A rather surprising statement from Lord Forsyth, the former Scottish Secretary - a man generally regarded in his homeland as a loyal ally of the English.
Anyway, the one-time cheerleader of the Poll Tax has claimed that something would be the "greatest political error since Bonnie Prince Charlie turned back at Derby" - when, having outflanked their English opponents, and with the road to London open in front of them, the Jacobite army opted instead to turn around, hurry back to Scotland, and fight a losing campaign for all the wrong reasons.
Does this mean that Lord Forsyth would have rather the Jacobites had won, that in his heart of hearts, he'd rather see an independent and victorious nation, a beaten England, and the heirs of Hanover sent packing to Germany and America...?
In the body of this most true-blue of pro-sassenach Conservative-and-Unionists, does the brave heart of a romantic nationalist still beat...?
Another thing worth noting is that the Jacobite retreat in 1746 was provoked in no small way by the misinformation of a Hanoverian spy named Dudley Bradstreet. A third thing that needs to be mentioned is that the Jacobites subsequently won the Battle of Falkirk, and still had an effective army in the aftermath of their defeat at Culloden, while the Hanoverian forces were out-of-position, rather knocked about, and rather short on supplies; even after Culloden, the initiative was there to be taken: it was Bonnie Prince Charlie's decision to flee for the Hebrides and tell his men to shift for themselves that cost them the campaign.
Or, as another general said, in another war: "A battle won is a battle in which you have not admitted defeat."
