By Bill Heaney
If we didn’t know it before, then it must be very clear now that Alex Salmond’s political career is almost as dead as that whale washed up on our storm-battered shores during Storm Eunice.
This emerged during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons today when the former First Minister of Scotland was all but compared to a 21st century Lord Haw Haw, who was an infamous propagandist for the Nazis during the Second World War.
Prime Minister Boris Johnston, who appears to have shaken off the hangover of Partygate [how convenient is that?], told MPs that “in the light of the increasingly threatening behaviour from Russia, and in line with our previous support, the UK will shortly be providing a further package of military support to Ukraine. This will include lethal aid in the form of defensive weapons and non-lethal aid.”
This was a prelude to a remarkable show of unity when the Labour leader Keir Starmer stretched out an olive branch to his Tory bete noir from the opposite side of the the chamber: “We all want to deter aggression in Europe. We are not dealing with breakaway republics, and Putin is not a peacekeeper; a sovereign nation has been invaded. The Prime Minister promised that in the event of an invasion, he would unleash a full package of sanctions. If not now, then when?”
Political floorshow — Alex Salmond, Boris Johnston, Ian Blackford and Sir Keith Starmer.
The Prime Minister was delighted with this support and show of unity. He said: “The UK has been out in front in offering military support to Ukraine, and I am grateful for what Mr Starmer said yesterday about the need to make sure we keep ammunition in reserve for what could be a protracted struggle over this issue.
“I do not think people quite realise that the UK is out in front. We have sanctioned 275 individuals already, and yesterday we announced measures that place banks worth £37 billion under sanctions, in addition to more oligarchs. There is more to come.
“We will be stopping Russia raising sovereign debt, and we will be stopping Russian companies raising money or, as I said yesterday, even clearing in sterling and dollars on international markets.
“That will hit Putin where it hurts, but it is vital that, after this first barrage, we work in lockstep with friends and allies around the world to squeeze him simultaneously in London, Paris and New York. Unity is absolutely vital.
“We want to see de-escalation by Vladimir Putin. There is still hope that he will see sense, but we are ready to escalate our sanctions very rapidly, as I have set out.
“Under the measures that this House has already approved, we can now target any Russian entity or individual. Not only can we already target the so-called breakaway republics in the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk but we can target members of the Duma who voted to recognise them. This is the most far-reaching legislation of its kind, and I am glad that it has Mr Starmer’s support.”
“I do not think any Government could conceivably be doing more to root out corrupt Russian money, and that is what we are going to do. We can be proud of what we have already done and the measures we have set out. I am genuinely grateful for the tone of the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s last question and for the support he has given.
“He is right to say that it is absolutely vital that we in the UK should stand united. People around the world can see that the UK was the first to call out what President Putin was doing in Ukraine. We have been instrumental in bringing the western world together in lockstep to deal with the problem—to bring together the economic package of sanctions that I have set out.
“As I have said, there is still time for President Putin to de-escalate, but we must be in absolutely no doubt that what is at stake is not just the democracy of Ukraine, but the principle of democracy around the world.
“That is why the unity of this House is so important today. It is absolutely vital that the United Kingdom stands together against aggression in Ukraine, and I am grateful for the broad support that we have had today from the Leader of the Opposition.”
“Under the Tories, a sewer of dirty Russian money has been allowed to run through London for years. In 2017, I went to the Prime Minister when he was Foreign Secretary and raised the issue of limited partnerships, of which 113 have been used to move $20.8 billion out of Russian banks—corruption on an industrial scale.
“Why did the Prime Minister do nothing back then, and why is he still doing nothing now?”
He added: “That meeting was five years ago, and I offered to work with the Prime Minister. Five years ago, and nothing has happened. The truth is that Russian oligarchs who give the right people in power a golden handshake have been welcomed into London for years.
“Their activities were not stopped; they were encouraged. Plenty of those golden handshakes just so happened to find their way into the coffers of the Conservative party—in fact, £2.3 million since the Prime Minister took office.
There was some skirmishing around the cash for favours allegations before the Prime Minister said: “I just think it is very important for the House to understand that we do not raise money from Russian oligarchs.
“We raise money from people who are registered to vote on the UK register of interests. That is how we do it. The right hon. Gentleman’s indignation is, I am afraid, a bit much coming from somebody whose very own Alex Salmond is a leading presenter, as far as I know, on Russia Today, which the Leader of the Opposition has just called on this country to ban.”
Liberal Jamie Stone, a former MSP, interjected: “Let us be clear about this: is it not an absolute disgrace that a Privy Counsellor, adviser to the Queen and former First Minister of Scotland sees fit to broadcast his half-baked world views week after week on Russian television?”