So much for David Cameron's interest in his Scottish wing's leadership contest or indeed his interest in preserving the Union.

As a PR exercise in reinforcing his desire to fight ' tooth and nail' and with 'every fibre of my being' to save the 304 year old partnership, his 50 minute conference speech was less than overwhelming.

He did not mention Scotland or the Union once. Mr Salmond must be thinking this independence referendum will be shootie in.

Of all people you'd think that the Prime Minister, the leader of the UK, while on the biggest political platform of the year, might, with a separation referendum imminent, have something to say about its future. Tories north of the border must be in dismay.

What conclusions can they draw from this, apart from the obvious that Mr Cameron is perhaps, after all, really not that bothered if the Scots go their separate ways. It may have suddenly dawned on him that without their sizeable chunk of Labour MPs the Tories are pretty much guaranteed perpetual power at Westminster. Losing a few whinging Scots along the way is a positive bonus.

He focused the speech on turning Britain into a 'can do' nation while ignoring the very real possibility that there might no longer be a Britain to 'do' anything.

Scotland it would seem is indeed an irrelevance for English Tories. Perhaps Scottish leader in waiting Murdo Fraser has the right idea after all. Scrap the name, the affiliations with the party down south, its constitution, its traditions and start afresh. It's doubtful if Mr Cameron would even notice.