NEVER thought of Police Scotland as japesters. Yet asked to come up with a code name for Boris Johnson’s visit to Scotland this week, the force's computer churned out “Operation Bunter”.

Cue red faces all round at the suggestion the Prime Minister was an obese, overgrown, schoolboy with zero impulse control, instead of the international statesman and heir to Churchill that he is.

The computer had clearly gone rogue, like HAL 9000, so humans stepped in and changed the codename to “Operation Aeration”, according to the Sun. Not much better, unless you are in the market for a ten dollar way to call someone a blowhard, which Police Scotland, being thoroughly impartial, would never do.

Mr Johnson has been called worse things than Billy Bunter during previous visits to Scotland. Two years ago he rocked up to Bute House to find a gaggle of booing protesters, and a First Minister whose face suggested she had been interrupted while watching The Chase to deal with some chancer offering to fix the roof.

The Downing Street staffer who okayed those 2019 arrangements presumably had his backside kicked. There was no way the Prime Minister was going to fall for that one again. Fool me once and all that. In the event Mr Johnson went one better, declining to meet the First Minister at all while he is here.

READ MORE: FM says she does not feel snubbed

Responding to her last-minute invitation to “a discussion on the current Covid situation and our respective plans for recovery”, he said he was keen to arrange an in-person meeting “with you and the other First Ministers”.

He then referred her to an earlier agreement to establish “a structured forum for ongoing engagement between the Government and the devolved administrations”.

Note the reference to Ms Sturgeon as one first minister among several. No special arrangements being laid on for her. It is the kind of letter Labour HQ in London could have sent to the “branch office” that is Scottish Labour. Or a brush off note from a senior officer to a junior, reminding them of the chain of command.

If it had a codename it would be “Operation Put Nicola Back in her Box”. Some have seen it as a snub; others spy gamesmanship on both sides.

It is more than that. It is a setting out of how things stand from the UK Government’s point of view. After years of not having much of a clue how to deal with Ms Sturgeon, Downing Street has come up with a plan. They are going to bury her, and the idea of another independence referendum, in a great big pile of reasonableness.

We can see from recent forays how the strategy is taking shape. Prior to any prime ministerial trip north, Michael Gove makes a pre-visit. He usually comes bearing the promise of civil service job relocations. Recently, however, he tried a new tack.

Having stuck to the line that London would absolutely not agree to another independence referendum, over our cold corpses etc, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster appeared to concede a small but important piece of ground this week, telling the Sunday Mail: “The principle that the people of Scotland, in the right circumstances, can ask that question again is there.”

Then came the “but” and yes, it was a big one.

“[But] I just don’t think that it is right, and the public don’t think it is right, to ask that question at the moment. If it is the case that there is clearly a settled will in favour of a referendum, then one will occur.”

This might strike some as merely a slight repackaging of Theresa May’s “now is not the time” line. It certainly uses that as a foundation.

But look at how Mr Gove builds on it, adding the requirement that there must be an obvious expression of a settled will in favour of another vote. He does not of course define what shape that might take. An overall majority in the next Scottish Parliament election? A majority among Scottish MPs? A run of opinion polls showing a large and consistent majority in favour? “Settled will” is the UK Government’s equivalent of “once in a generation”, it means whatever the speaker chooses.

READ MORE: Indyref2 argument will soon 'wash away'

Such obfuscation suits Downing Street. It allows them to put the matter of another referendum in the long-stay car park of politics, alongside social care reform for England, the pensions guarantee, party spending reform, and other sticky matters. They have not forgotten it is there. It still matters. They might even pop round now and then to run the engine for a bit. But basically, indyref2 is going nowhere for now.

In the meantime, the UK Government will continue to remind Scotland, ever so politely and with the best intentions, what it gains from being part of the Union, starting with access to vaccines. In his letter to the FM, Mr Johnson flagged up the autumn booster campaign, pointing out that the UK Government had procured millions of vaccines “for the entire United Kingdom”.

The "keep 'em guessing" strategy should suit Ms Sturgeon, too. The SNP conference next month will go through the usual ritual of talking up another referendum while refusing to put a deadline anywhere near the commitment. They don’t have to: it is up to the UK Government to say yes or no to another referendum. But it would be the clearest declaration of intent yet if they did.

Instead, like the UK Government, the SNP leadership will likely leave itself enough wriggle room, citing, for example, the need to put Covid recovery first. Again, who defines what recovery looks like? Is it measured in jobs? NHS waiting times? Debt?

Scores on the doors time. Ms Sturgeon did not get her doorstop photo with the Prime Minister, but she did appear welcoming and generous.

Downing Street continued to give the impression of having a plan on Scotland while administering a snub to the First Minister. That will go down well with the backbench troops up here and down there. As for the Prime Minister, he succeeded in notching up another visit to Scotland. Everyone’s a winner.

Except for the poor voter in the middle desperate for clarity. When it comes to that precious commodity you’ll have had your tea, Scotland.