PMQs Sketch: In praise of Ian Blackford - long-winded and over-the-top, but as crafty as any Brexiteer Joe Murphy Inexplicably, some Tory MPs curl their lips at the weekly performances of Ian Blackford, Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party. True, he does ham it up something rotten, swerving from disgusted whisper to full blown button-popping outrage in the snap of a sporran. Yes, he does tend to go on a bit too long, heaping up huge, trembling verbal spoil heaps from the Caledonian cliché mines. But Blackford is actually very good at what he does. Behind those OTT theatrics is a cunning political brain that can mince complicated arguments down to fist-sized soundbites. A bit like Boris Johnson’s, you might say. He can be brutal, calling Theresa May a liar when she was PM. He is also a gifted opportunist who memorable called out Johnson for “playing on his phone” during one of his elongated speeches instead of “listening to Scotland”.