Real opponents of the Westminster system are in despair, and calls for a new Movement to end it are dismissed as naive. The SNP’s history gives the lie to this.

Go to any supper or drinks Party in England these days, and if the subject of Scottish independence comes up, there’ll be a consensus that ‘there’s nothing we can do…it’s inevitable,it’s going to happen’. Yet the SNP still has only a 35% share of the vote in Scotland (YouGov this week); and not that long ago – around the 1992-95 period – a similar social gathering in Scotland would’ve produced ‘there’s nothing we can do…it’ll never happen’.

History shows us that yesterday’s no-hoper can become today’s runner and tomorrow’s winner. It also shows us that one smart leader with a degree of guile and charisma (Alex Salmond) can easily be the telling catalyst.

‘There’s nothing we can do’ is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Changing that view will change everything. Blindingly obvious? Of course it is: so why is nobody credible being targeted as the leader of such an British Movement?

Those of us who want sweeping reform need to realise a simple fact: you have to be in it to win it.