Boris Johnsons’s Scottish holiday – and absence from office – provoked much comment in the weekend’s opinion pages. Here’s what columnists had to say on the Prime Minister in hiding.

Scotland on Sunday

Dani Garavelli argued Mr Johnson’s apparent absences during crises play into Nicola Sturgeon’s hands.

She wrote: “Like TS Eliot’s Macavity, whenever there’s a crisis, Johnson is not there. So it’s not surprising he should have chosen to head for the hills with the latest iteration of his family during the A-levels/GCSE debacle. Or that, given his track record, he should have made a nuisance of himself while he was there.

According to the Mail, he ensconced himself in Applecross, which is on the North Coast 500, a route plagued by inconsiderate travellers.

“A few weeks ago, residents of Durness, with its fragile dune system, appealed for help after the village was over-run by campers who lit fires and left a trail of broken bottles, rubbish and human waste. In Applecross, Johnson apparently annoyed a farmer by marauding over fences, lighting a campfire and pitching his tent on his land without asking permission.

“As he wound up the locals, Nicola Sturgeon pressed on with her daily briefings, and her high approval ratings held steady. Her presenteeism may teeter towards masochism, but is infinitely preferable to Johnson’s nonchalance. Observers often scratch their heads over how she does it; how she escapes a public savaging over serious mistakes such as the release of Covid-19 positive patients from hospitals to care homes, and the use of an exams algorithm which entrenched disadvantage.

“But it’s not a great mystery. It’s because she’s there at the coalface, taking the questions, accepting a degree of responsibility, rather than skiving off to some far flung spot while her Education Secretary crumbles under questioning.

“At her best, she is impressive. But even at her worst, she is what Saul Bellow referred to as a ‘contrast gainer’.”

The Guardian

Marina Hyde raised the question of why “work-shy” Mr Johnson needed a holiday.

She wrote: “Unless it involves self-advancement, of course, Johnson has always been workshy. Present, but not involved.

“When London mayor, he appointed deputy mayors who did his job for him, freeing him up for technology lessons and so on. The only bit he had to do was figurehead stuff – and yet, when his own city exploded in riots, who couldn’t be a***d coming off his holiday…. The pattern has repeated for every crisis, from floods to Covid Cobra meetings.

“This time, the silence is so deafening that Downing Street has been reduced to trailing work the Prime Minister might do in future.

“Some No 10 official promises Johnson will be jointly pushing the back-to-school drive with Gavin Williamson, insisting: ‘There is barely an issue he has been more personally associated with.’ Like that means a lot.

“Even now, as the Union looks in deep trouble, being asked to consider Johnson’s holiday destination as significant suggests we’re deep in bare-minimum territory.

“The only thing he can think of offering Scotland is to go there privately and do nothing in it. “

The Sunday Times

Meanwhile, Kevin Pringle claimed that Mr Johnson needs to get a second independence referendum over and done

with.

He wrote: “The Times reported on Friday that Gove is in ‘save the Union’ talks with pro-UK figures across the parties, which implies campaign preparation. Another straw in the wind is Douglas Ross, the new Conservative leader in Scotland, refusing to comment in a Scottish Sun interview on whether a vote should be blocked if there is an SNP majority next year.

“The UK Government may be tempted to grab control, by legislating for a referendum and deciding the timing, question and franchise at Westminster. If so, the ensuing row would be a gift to the SNP. What is definite is that Johnson would want to drive a harder bargain on the terms than David Cameron did.

“In 2014, Better Together won the day but lost the aftermath. That’s why another day of decision is surely coming.”