John Cooper: ‘Sleekit Swinney’ and his bathing costume when it comes to Defence

John Cooper is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Dumfries and Galloway.

All military operations need an element of surprise, and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney certainly achieved that when he popped up with two members of the Ukrainian armed forces at the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo.

Why a surprise? Surely the leader of the SNP-led devolved administration at Holyrood stands four-square with Ukraine in its bloody and protracted battle against Russian aggression?

That’s certainly the official line, but long-term observers of the SNP know what lies beneath the separatists’ rhetoric is worth careful study.

Mr Swinney’s supporters call him ‘Honest John’ based on his time as Scotland’s finance minister, pointing to his balancing of the books.

It’s a story like a bathing costume: What it reveals is interesting, but what it conceals is vital.

Swinney merely hit legally binding spending targets.

That’s why I prefer ‘Sleekit Swinney’. For those unlucky enough not to be versed in Scotland’s rich and ancient vernacular, ‘sleekit’ means crafty; sly.

For the reality behind Mr Swinney’s posturing – ‘Scotland stands with Ukraine and is proud to provide sanctuary for Ukrainians who have been displaced from their homeland’ – is an SNP which is squeamish about unstinting practical help in conflicts.

Yes, Scotland donated medical aid – £800,000 of ventilators and oxygen concentrators – to Ukraine, but once more unto the bathing cozzie.

Such is the wrong-headed ideology of the SNP, this aid could not be used to treat military casualties, with a prohibition insisting it was strictly for civilian use.

So, were those same brave Ukrainians Mr Swinney posed up with at Edinburgh Castle to be wounded on the front line – or in their beds when Putin’s hypersonic missiles slam into cities – then Scotland’s aid would be denied them.

And not content with this duplicity, the SNP risked British security too with a presumption against funding firms involved in the production of ordnance – the stuff that goes bang; war-winning essentials.

There has been an eleventh-hour U-turn from Mr Swinney but – back to the bathing costume – also a signature sleekit codicil.

The SNP will now allow funding to go to arms firms… except if they have dealings with Israel.

Foreign affairs is nothing to do with the devolved administration but, setting that aside for now, it’s likely many defence firms will have ties with our Israeli allies so the U-turn looks more performative than practical.

Scotland plays a pivotal role in British defence infrastructure. The weekend announcement that Norway is to purchase state-of-the-art submarine-hunting Type 26 frigates built on the Clyde is £10billion of good news for Britain, and global security.

Yet, in thrall to pacifist instincts that are hopelessly naïve in today’s world – try shouting ‘We’re neutral!’ as Russian T-14 Armata tanks roll – the SNP cannot even bring themselves to officially welcome the jobs boost the frigates will deliver.

When Rolls-Royce said it would build an £11m centre of welding excellence on the Clyde, the SNP refused to offer funding support as the welders might work on the Dreadnought class submarines that will soon be Britain’s new at-sea nuclear deterrent.

The UK Labour Government has, correctly, said it would step in.

The SNP have fellow travellers in their refusal to back British defence.

Ross Greer has just been elected as co-chair of the Scottish Green Party, and he is notorious for being part of a blockade of the Holyrood parliament which denied access for members of the public, including young apprentices working for firms such as BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce.

In a crowded field, this was a nadir for Holyrood and made some question Greer’s suitability for elected office outwith the student union.

What to do when a devolved administration within the UK acts to undermine British defence – an issue reserved to Westminster? What to do when the SNP still risks harming those SMEs who might want to ramp up to fulfil MoD orders as we look to fill our arsenals with artillery shells and innovative weapons such as drones?

I asked the Secretary of State for Defence that very question in the House, and answer came there none.

I have long argued that the issue of Scottish independence is not just for the Scots. It matters to every single one of us across Britain, for the loss of Scotland would diminish us all.

That’s why in the Holyrood election next year, we all must hope voters back the Scottish Conservatives’ common-sense agenda, crafted by leader Russell Findlay, and give Sleekit Swinney and his Fifth Columnist friends their marching orders.