Red lines and resignations

Ruth Davidson headed off for maternity leave with a threat that she might not come back

Ruth Davidson is now officially on maternity leave. Our thoughts are with her. May her confinement be contented and all her hopes rewarded.

And her final act before departing the political scene, albeit temporarily? She threatened to resign as Scottish Conservative leader.

Now I know Brexit has rather destabilised the entire political system. But, even so.

To be strictly accurate (always my endeavour), Ms Davidson simply allowed it to be known, in the way one does, that she might be contemplating life without leadership.

She and the Scottish Secretary David Mundell wrote a letter to the prime minister warning her that they were agin any Brexit deal which created artificial divisions between Britain on the one hand and Northern Ireland on the other.

It was then made known, as these things tend to be, that they could not reasonably continue in office if their request was neglected.

I cannot imagine that their stance was met with universal delight in Downing Street.

Although, to be fair, resignations from high Tory office have now become so commonplace that a mere threat scarcely registers.

Perhaps that influenced Ms Davidson and Mr Mundell. Perhaps they saw so many quitting that they felt left out, over-looked in the panoply of exasperated departures.

More seriously, they were reminding Mrs May and, through her, the voters of Scotland that they both take the Union seriously.

David Mundell has also hinted that he could quit as Scottish Secretary were his "red lines" to be breached

Their immediate point was about Ireland - or, rather, the section of the island of Ireland which remained within the UK post the 1921 partition.

But I strongly suspect that their minds were focused upon the 1707 Acts of Union which conjoined Scotland and England. Rather than the 1800 statutes which affected Ireland.

The Tories have revived, somewhat, in Scotland by contriving to corral into their camp substantial numbers of those who are intuitively inclined towards the Union.

They had hoped to build upon that basic foundation by attracting wider support to their policies on such issues as education, crime and the health service.

That endeavour would be undermined if it should prove that their Unionist base became disenchanted as a consequence of Brexit.

Hence the letter to the PM. Hence the mutterings of resignation.

Of course, they were pushing at an open door (or, rather, a closed one since the PM has already ruled out the approach they were excoriating).

Always best, when threatening to resign, to calculate the likely response. Bit of a let-down if your target replies: "Grand, don't make a noise when you leave. Disturbs the Downing Street cat."

Theresa May has stressed the importance of the union while updating MPs on the talks

Theresa May has said from the outset that she would not contemplate anything which provided a constitutional distinction between Northern Ireland and GB.

To be fair, this was a point of principle for her. She said that no British PM could contemplate such a set of circumstances.

Of course, it helped to concentrate her mind that her Commons majority depends on the Democratic Unionist Party.

And so she duly stressed the vital importance of the Union - North/South, East/West - when she updated MPs on the Brexit talks this afternoon.

Her statement delighted the Scots Tories. They said she was "absolutely right to prioritise the integrity of the United Kingdom".

The statement came from Jackson Carlaw, the party's deputy leader. Ruth Davidson being on maternity leave.