David Cameron’s warning: the big bad Scots will get you

The message is everywhere from David Cameron, even on the gaily coloured sofas so beloved of mid-morning televisions studios. Be afraid, be very afraid . . . of the Scottish National Party.

Finishing an interview with the prime minister on Wednesday morning, presenter Philip Schofield announced: “Up next, a man who can pinch your wallet, your watch, and even your tie without you ever noticing. He’s here after the break.”

“Who’s that? Alex Salmond?” Cameron joked. Schofield laughed. His co-presenter, Amanda Holden, chortled.

The latest phase in the Conservative attacks upon the SNP continued, even if the desired victim is not the SNP, but the Labour Party.

Later, a more serious Cameron used the back-drop of Downing Street to send an email to Conservative party members, declaring: “If you thought the stakes were high, they’ve just got a whole lot higher.”

Earlier, a clip of Salmond speaking at an SNP party fundraiser earlier this month was helpfully brought to light. In it the former Scottish first minister boasted of the powers he intends to enjoy once he returns to the House of Commons in May.

Labour budget

Referring to an interview earlier that day by Labour’s Chuka Umunna, Salmond is seen saying: “He said famously the Scottish Labour leader will not be writing the Labour Party budget, but then I knew that already because

I’m

writing the Labour Party budget.”

The video prompted a rash of outraged statements from leading Conservatives. Cameron tweeted the video under his own name: "This footage will shock you: Alex Salmond laughs & boasts he'll write Labour's budget. Vote Conservative to stop it."

Pressed that it was clear that Salmond was joking, London mayor Boris Johnson said many a true word has been spoken in jest. He said it proves Salmond believes that he will be the one pulling the strings after May.

“There he is,” Johnson said, “effectively giving the game away in, I think, a very kind of arrogant way, actually, saying he, Alex Salmond, with all his love of left-wing economics and all the rest of it, is going to be masterminding the budget of this country.”

Saying that Cameron had suffered “a humour bypass”, Salmond said he was clearly making a joke. But he quickly turned on the prime minister, declaring that the Conservative has form making off-microphone jibes.

“The Tories have been picking Scotland’s pocket for years, and have been well and truly rumbled – which is why David Cameron and the rest of the Westminster gang are sinking like a stone in Scotland,” he declared.

"Of course, it's typical of David Cameron's style to make an off-microphone gibe, but he didn't have the bottle to debate in the referendum, or with Nicola Sturgeon in this election campaign. If he had, he'd be looking even more hot and bothered."

The Conservatives are convinced that its SNP “invading marauders” strategy is working – enticing Conservatives who have drifted to the UK Independence Party to come back, or putting the wind up voters who have yet to fall one way or the other.

Tactical voting

In Scotland, the Scottish edition of the

Daily Mail

produced a two-page “tactical voting” guide for Scotland’s estimated 400,000 Conservative voters, suggesting how they could use their vote to deny seats to the SNP on May 7th.

Such guides are riddled with flaws, since it is increasingly clear that the Conservatives are being asked to fill gaps left by the departure of swathes of former Labour supporters into the welcoming arms of the SNP.

The Conservatives' Jaws strategy, missing only the soundtrack synonymous with the approaching shark from the Steven Spielberg thriller, works best when Salmond can be brought front and centre, rather than the more emollient Sturgeon.

English Labour MPs are reporting resistance to SNP influence. One poll suggests that 1 in 12 voters believe that a SNP pact is likely and a bad thing. They believe a Conservative government would be best but are not already voting Conservative. Such votes are like gold dust in a tight campaign.

The Cameron/Salmond war of words, if it can be justifiably called that, suits both of them, since they both want to destroy Labour. However, some Conservatives fear for the state of the Union that will be left after May. Their fears are well-founded.

Often, the Conservatives are not just saying that SNP influence is unacceptable if their votes hold the balance of power. Sometimes the message is harsher: that it is Scottish influence, not just SNP influence, that is not permissible.