Does Kezia Dugdale realise she's the most powerful woman in Europe at the moment? I say "woman" - perhaps that's patronising. Maybe "politician" would be more apt.
But let's go with the gender limitation for the time being. Who are the key women power-brokers in Europe just now? Teresa May; Nicola Sturgeon; that vile fascist bastard in France; Angela Merkel; all of 'em can lay a claim to the title. But they all have to operate within very well-defined parameters. There's little any one of them can do except inch forward along their chosen paths, with the knowledge that their destiny isn't entirely in their own hands.
Sturgeon could call Indyref2 - but we know it's not looking likely to deliver a Yes vote at the moment. May needs to keep ploughing on with Mental-Brexit in the hope that things go so utterly tits-up that English opinion polls start to indicate nervousness within that unpleasant little-Britain community that will - ultimately - get irresistibly queasy at the the thought of economic penury and decide to pinch their noses and thole the idea of living alongside "furriners" when they realise *someone* has to pay their pensions.
Dugdale could - with a single press conference - change the entire European dynamic.
"Ladies and gentleman, I sit before you all this morning having experienced a Damascene moment. The Tory party's insane drive towards a hard Brexit, coupled with the clear desire of the Scottish people to remain within the EU or - at the very least - the single market has led me to the view that I can no longer support Scotland remaining within the United Kingdom. For too long the SNP has occupied a position of unassailable power within the Scottish Parliament - that situation can no longer be permitted to continue. I have become convinced of Scotland's ability to become an independent nation within the European Union - and also convinced that independence is an inevitable consequence of the Tories' insane drive to dislocate themselves from one of the biggest political and economic alliances in the world.
I am today committing Scottish Labour to the cause of Scottish Independence and to campaign vigourously against the dismal record of the SNP."
Can you imagine the degree to which Sturgeon and May would crap themselves?
Nicola Sturgeon would experience an entire division of tanks on her lawn. No longer assured of a majority at Holyrood, and no longer assured of being First Minister when Independence finally happens. There is massive legacy support for Labour in Scotland, but nobody knows what they're for any more. Committing - albeit tardily - to Independence will bring massive support back in to the Labour fold. Like UKIP in England, Scottish Labour has the ability to influence where the fulcrum of the political landscape sits. Scottish Labour supporting Independence would result in the dam being breached and overwhelming support for Indyref2 cascading through.
Teresa May would immediately recognise that the Union is holed below the waterline and that whatever oil-revenues may crystallise upon a recovery of the global oil-price, they ain't heading into rUK coffers. The possibility of Canary Wharf's population heading Edinburgh-wards to retain an English-speaking EU headquarters would - I submit - be likely to turn her bowels to ice-water.
Is there any other politician in Europe who could so easily - and massively - change the entire dynamic of the European political landscape?
Kezia Dugdale - your time has come.
