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On Wednesday David Lammy said at Prime Minister's Questions that the Scottish National Party was a threat to the UK's national security, in what amounts to a drastic escalation of Labour's anti-independence rhetoric.
To be clear he - and in fact, two other cabinet ministers before him - didn't just say that SNP policies risked national security, which would have been a normal part of the cut and thrust of political debate. He said that the SNP Government in Scotland - a Government elected in 2021 by Scottish voters - was, itself, a threat.
This all started on Monday, when the Scottish Conservative MP John Lamont asked at Defence questions if the Defence Secretary, John Healy agreed "that Scottish independence would be a gift to Britain's enemies and would put at risk the hard work of our armed forces in keeping us safe at home?"
Healy didn't only agree, but went further, declaring that "the continuation of the Scottish Nationalist Government in Scotland is a threat to our security".
Later, he refused to use the same language about the Chinese Government.
On Wednesday morning, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander, was asked at Scottish Questions if he agreed with this assessment. He said that he did, giving an additional reason, alongside its support for independence.
"Scottish businesses," he said, meaning global arms manufacturers with factories in Scotland, were "deeply perplexed by the [first minister's] statement in relation to the Middle East and Gaza".
The statement he was referring to was the Scottish Government's decision to stop subsidising companies selling weapons to Israel.
Adding in the SNP's opposition to nuclear weapons, he said "I find myself as usual in agreement with the Defence Secretary."
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At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon, the SNP MP Pete Wishart asked the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy (who was filling in while Starmer is away) whether he agreed.
Lammy - bizarrely - responded by saying that a DNA test had told him he is 5% Scot, and that "the people of Scotland are not a threat to national security, it's the SNP, and their desire to get rid of the nuclear deterrent, that's the threat to national security".
So, across three days, three Labour cabinet ministers agreed that Scotland's SNP Government is a threat to national security, giving between them three reasons: its desire for Scottish independence (implicitly, when Healy agreed with Lamont's original question); its eventual decision to stop subsidising arms companies producing weapons for Israel for use in the genocide in Gaza, and its opposition to nuclear weapons.
This posturing is politically telling. 1.3 million people in Scotland voted for the SNP Government in 2021. If Labour thought it could reach out to sway any of those people in May's Holyrood election, then it wouldn't be using a line which these voters see as preposterous. If Labour had an expansive strategy in Scotland, then Douglas Alexander - who will be in charge of overseeing the campaign - would be picking messages to reach out to the roughly half of Scots who support independence. Instead, this messaging appears to be an attempt to shore-up the hardline unionist vote in Scotland, which is currently haemorrhaging to Reform.
And, of course, this doesn't just cover Scotland. Labour just took a drubbing from Plaid Cymru in the Caerphilly by-election in Wales, with the pro-Welsh independence, anti-nuclear party in poll position to come first in the Welsh elections next year. The Nor...