that the 2014 plebiscite was a once-in-a-generation event".
I don't know often Johnson's going to be allowed to spout this falsehood before some plucky interviewer finally nails him and embarrasses him enough that he abandons the lie.
In the Foreword to the Scottish Government's White Paper produced before the referendum (yes, a bona fide White Paper was produced, which is more than can be said for preparations for the Brexit referendum; had Johnson bothered to read it, he'd see that many of the issues he raised today were addressed), Salmond described the referendum as a "rare and precious moment in the history of Scotland - a once in a generation opportunity to chart a better way" (my italics). He also said in a few interviews words to the effect "in my view this is a once in a generation, perhaps even a once in a lifetime opportunity". Sturgeon is also on record in one interview as describing it as the "opportunity of a lifetime".
We haven't got far to look to see Johnson using the same form of words, back to the 2019 election, in fact, where no less that the Express reported his statement: "This is a critical once-in-a-generation election. I think this is one of the most important in modern times. On this election, the direction of the country depends."
He didn't even describe it as an "opportunity". He baldly declared it a "once-in-a-generation election". Even given Johnson's tendency towards megalomania, nobody seriously interpreted that as meaning we'd literally have no more elections for a generation, however long that might be. It was a rhetorical expression to emphasize how momentous it was, exactly like Salmond's and Sturgeon's.
Whatever, the post-referendum Smith Commission report that presented the results of thrashing out a constitutional way forward for relations between Scotland and the rest of the UK emphasized: "nothing in this report prevents Scotland becoming an independent country in the future should the people of Scotland so choose", and all parties signed up to that.
In the end, it doesn't matter what Salmond and Sturgeon said. Their words can no more bind the hands of a future Scottish Parliament than Johnson's can the Westminster one, let alone dictate to the population of Scotland what they can wish for and vote for.
As Salmond said in 2014: "the only circumstances in which you could have another referendum would be if you got an extra mandate at a subsequent general election". In 2019, the SNP won 49 out of 59 seats (one was won by a member who'd been sanctioned at the time and ran as and independent, but he's since rejoined the party). As polling currently stands, it looks like the SNP will win a majority in the spring Holyrood elections, and a run of 20 recent polls shows a resounding majority in favour of a referendum.
Maggie Thatcher in her time said: "As a nation, they have an undoubted right to national self-determination; thus far they have exercised that right by joining and remaining in the Union. Should they determine on independence no English party or politician would stand in their way, however much we might regret their departure."
I doubt these are words Johnson will ever quote.
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