While David Lidington’s proffered concession on the Northern Irish backstop was swiftly dismissed by the DUP, Scottish Conservatives appear to be a more receptive audience. While any “unionist concession” tends to be viewed in the context of appeasing the DUP, let’s not forget that Theresa May also has a baker’s dozen of Scottish MPs to persuade that her Brexit deal does not pose a threat to the future of the United Kingdom. After all, Lidington did make his remarks during an evidence session in the Scottish parliament.

Certainly the Holyrood Tory MSP group is said to be “very reassured” by his remarks, which they believe take the wind out the sails of any nationalist arguments about similar special deals for Scotland, and the need for independence when those are not forthcoming.

Whether his comments landed so successfully with the Scottish Conservative group at Westminster is less clear: it appears the group remains split, and not down traditional hard/soft Brexit lines either. The future of fishing rights remains a significant concern, though not always for self-interested constituency reasons, given that Banff and Buchan’s David Duiguid – arguably with the fishiest constituency of all – has been doing the media rounds defending May’s deal this week.

Michael Gove has been tasked with speaking privately to doubters over the weekend: he is believed to have credibility with the group as a Scot who understands the intricacies of the constitutional debate, and knows about fishing rights too.

And there are others who think that the “union threat” - first raised in the resignation letters of Dominic Raab and Esther McVey – gained legs before many people had even had time to read the agreement properly, and served only as a convenient excuse to disagree with the deal for those who were already minded to.