An air of awkwardness hung over Boris Johnson’s speech to the Scottish Tory conference in Aberdeen.
Scots party leader Douglas Ross and his MSPs had recently called for the PM to go over his party-gate antics.
But in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ross and co had to perform an embarrassing u-turn and the call for him to quit was rescinded
Ross now had to introduce a man he thinks is a liability and pretend to be cool about it.
The Prime Minister’s speech majored on the atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine and the action taken by the UK to combat the Putin war machine.
He promised to “tighten the vice” around the Russian economy and do more with defensive weapons to help Ukraine.
While he was strong on the emergency abroad, he was found wanting on the growing crisis at home.
He made no mention of the cost of living crisis faced by millions of people who face a huge hit to their incomes.
In April, soaring gas prices will clobber family budgets already reeling from sky-high inflation.
His Government’s iniquitous national insurance rise will pile further pressure on low income families who were also punished with a heartless cut to Universal Credit.
The Tory leader’s line was that ramping up North Sea oil and gas production could somehow help with broken energy markets.
But new fields cannot become operational overnight and people are desperate for cash now.
He also failed to explain how drilling harder is consistent with the country’s tough climate change targets.
Johnson simply had nothing to say on the biggest domestic issue facing voters.
He is about to find out how the pound in people’s pockets is the top issue in UK politics.
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