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Hello and welcome to Coffeehouse Shots and Spectator's Daily Politics Podcast. I'm Katie Balls and I'm joined by James Forsyfe.

Now Boris Johnson is venturing north of the border today as part of a two-day trip to Scotland.

It doesn't seem as though Nicola Sturgeon is particularly thrilled,

partly because her request to meet with the Prime Minister on the trip has been politely declined.

James, what's the purpose of the trip?

Because if we think back to the Scottish Parliament elections,

when things did seem rather fraught in terms of independence, concerns Nicola Sturgeon would win their S&P majority,

there were reports and things I think we both heard at the time saying the Scottish Tories

did not want Boris Johnson their own slightest. Yeah, but I mean, I think Boris Johnson didn't go

to Scotland at all during that campaign. One of the things that it's quite interesting is that the person who ran that campaign

for the Scottish to Tories, Mark McKinness, is now coming to Downing Street to be the kind of

advisor on the union.

I mean the purpose of this visit is that it shouldn't be unusual for the British Prime

Minister to go to Scotland.

It should be no more of a news story than him going to

Yorkshire or him going to Birmingham. And I think the problem they've got themselves into is,

but partly because of COVID, but even before COVID, these kind of visit, Prime Ministerial

to Scotland were so rare that they became news in and of themselves. Now, I think the Nicholas Sturgeon

thing you're referring to there is interesting because one thing that both sides, both nationalists

and unions polling show quite clearly is that those crucial swing voters really want the two governments,

the UK government and the Scottish government, to work together. So what we are now seeing is

...