Humza Yousaf’s call for Tories to be “wiped off the electoral map of Scotland” is not as bad as it sounds. It’s worse and needs to be called out by democrats of all persuasions.

Wiping out elected representatives is semantically different from disenfranchising the people who vote for them, but the message is much the same. It is about the extremely unpleasant art of “othering”.

That is defined as “a process whereby individuals and groups are treated and marked as different and inferior from the dominant social group”. A group, in fact, so different and inferior that they are undeserving of elected representation.

I know plenty Scottish Tories and can disagree civilly with them on many things, if we bother to discuss them. However it would never occur to me that they are not entitled to representation at any level of government. I just prefer them not to be running it.

Mr Yousaf’s proclamation is a sleekit invitation to the unwary to embrace the “othering” assumption. The Scottish Tories are so different as to be beyond the pale so let us all find common cause in erasing them from the electoral map.

That is a dangerous message for any politician to send to 700,000 (at the last count) voters and one which richly deserves to backfire on him, as well it may. Where it suited, the SNP has never been shy about trying to “borrow” Tory tactical votes.

There are many good reasons for not liking the Conservative and Unionist Party,........

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