John Swinney abandoned women’s rights with cowardly reaction to Police Scotland action in trans protest case

It was a statement intended to underline the First Minister’s integrity. Instead, it was a reminder of his cowardice.

When it emerged last week that a leading feminist campaigner faced vandalism charges after touching an umbrella belonging to an angry trans activist during a protest outside the Scottish Parliament, the backlash from opposition politicians was swift and justified.

Here was as clear an example as we’ve seen of the way in which gender ideologues abuse the system, making spurious police complaints against those who must be punished for believing biological sex is real and immutable.

But, asked during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday about this intolerable abuse of power by Police Scotland, John Swinney refused to speak out. It would not, he told MSPs, be appropriate for him to comment on a live police matter.

What garbage.

It’s precisely because this has become a live police matter that Swinney’s involvement is not only desirable but essential. When the police run out of control, as they have done in this case, the First Minister has a duty to speak and, if necessary, to act.

If not he, then who else stands in the way of Police Scotland becoming a law unto itself?

The treatment of Susan Smith is deeply disturbing but, I’m afraid, feels absolutely inevitable.

As one of the founders – alongside Trina Budge and Marion Calder – of the organisation For Women Scotland, Smith brought the case that saw the Supreme Court rule in April that, when it comes to the law, sex is a matter of biology rather than feelings.

Recent history tells us that trans activists insist such insolent women who loudly and clearly reject the fantasy that “transwomen are women” are to pay a price. The opportunity to exact it came during a protest outside the Scottish Parliament in September when Smith and several hundred others gathered to demand the Government implement the law on single-sex spaces.

A solo counter-protest was held by trans activist, Tom Harlow, who turned up with a portable PA system and proceeded to play music loudly, drowning out the feminist speakers.

Harlow, a drag queen who performs under the somewhat clunky name “Cabaret Against The Hate Speech” (that definite article is almost as unforgivable as his behaviour), was surrounded by a protective ring of cops while he put those women in their place. When Smith dared approach him, he thrust his umbrella towards her.

There is, I’m afraid, no sugar-coating what happened next. Smith touched the umbrella.

Several photos of the incident exist, along with video footage showing the entire interaction.

When it comes to the question of whether she touched a man’s umbrella, let’s nip any conspiracy theories in the bud. Susan Smith did it. There was no second brolly-toucher. Smith is no patsy.

But, while there’s no doubt over what happened, it is not (yet) illegal in Scotland for a person to touch an umbrella that’s been thrust towards them by a misogynist.

It’s perfectly clear from photos and video that Harlow’s umbrella was damaged before Smith got anywhere near him but, despite this incontrovertible evidence that no crime took place, he made a complaint to police.

Rather than laughing him out of the station – or lifting him for wasting their time – officers took Harlow’s report seriously and subsequently wrote to Smith instructing her to attend an Edinburgh police station where she would be warned about her behaviour. Failure to turn up, she was told, would leave her facing a charge of vandalism.

It is perfectly clear that, in this instance as in so many others, police have acted with ideology rather than the law in mind.

So captured is Police Scotland that, not only was Tom Harlow protected while breaching the peace during the September protest, he is now being actively supported in abusing the system to punish a woman who doesn’t share his views.

John Swinney’s refusal to speak out about this matter tells us not that he respects the independence of Police Scotland but that he does not care about the corruption of the force under the influence of gender ideologues.

During FMQs, Swinney told MSPs that if he was to comment on police matters on “a habitual basis”, there would soon be complaints.

But nobody is asking the First Minister to provide a running commentary on each and every decision taken by Chief Constable Jo Farrell and her officers. Rather, Swinney is being asked to do his duty in ensuring Police Scotland is fit for purpose.

This situation is, at once, both laughable and worrying.

How ridiculous it is that the touching of an umbrella should have led to any kind of police involvement. But how troubling that, even now, as evidence of the damaged caused by trans ideology mounts, Police Scotland is willing to act on the instructions of activists whose refusal to accept biological reality puts them at odds not only with the majority but with the law.

There was nothing whatsoever to prevent the First Minister from telling MSPs on Thursday that what is currently happening to Susan Smith is wrong.

Nor is there anything to prevent him demanding Chief Constable Jo Farrell explain what the hell she thinks she’s playing at.

The reason Swinney refuses to get involved is not because of concerns about the independence of the police but because he – in common with Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar – is terrified of the young activists in his party who, in large numbers, remain fully in thrall to trans ideology.

Rather than speak the truth to his party and risk internal dissent, Swinney pretends nothing’s wrong.

But something is wrong. Police Scotland, under the leadership of Jo Farrell, is currently harassing a woman for her feminist beliefs.

John Swinney’s refusal to intervene is a choice and his abandonment of women’s rights is a calculation.