Liz Truss said the best way to deal with Nicola Sturgeon was to ignore her. It was one policy the outgoing Tory leader managed to stick to - she never had a formal meeting with the First Minister during her time in Downing Street.
Rishi Sunak will now take charge of the UK Government after winning the latest Conservative leadership contest. Will he make a difference in the big constitutional row? Don't bet on it.
Sturgeon wants to call a second referendum on Scottish independence on October 19 next year - providing the UK Supreme Court decides Holyrood has the required legal powers to organise such a vote.
But the SNP leader must also wrestle with long-standing opposition in Westminster to her plans.
Sunak will become the fourth Tory PM to deal with the political fall-out caused by the 2016 Brexit vote and Nationalist demands for an IndyRef2 as a result.
Will he change course? His previous comments suggest not.
'We must be firm with Nicola Sturgeon'
Speaking at a party hustings in July, Sunak set out his firm opposition to an IndyRef2. He told an audience in Leeds: "We're under real risk.
"The best things we can do are be firm with Nicola Sturgeon about another referendum. We need to make sure that in government in Whitehall that we don't just devolve and forget, which for many years has been the institutional imperative.
“We as UK Government ministers have to be more active in Scotland, we have to be more active about delivering benefits of the Union on the ground to the people in Scotland and working constructively there to do that."
Sunak added: "We have got to make arguments about the union that speak to people's hearts and speak to their emotions. Because if we focus just on the practicalities, we will not be successful. And I think we can do that."
'Quite frankly barmy'
Sunak doubled down on his opposition to Sturgeon's referendum plans when appearing at a party hustings in Perth in August.
He was asked by STV political editor Colin Mackay if he would ever allow another independence referendum.
Sunak replied: "It is quite frankly barmy for politicians to be trying to focus on a divisive and unnecessary constitutional referendum at a time when people are worried about heating their homes.
He added: "I can’t imagine the circumstances where I would [allow another referendum]. We live in a Union which is of course there by consent and by democracy and I accept that.
"But I just don’t think that anybody thinks that now or anytime in the future is remotely the time to focus on this. I’m focused on defending the union, on demonstrating the benefit of the Union to people in Scotland."
'Wrong priority at the worst possible moment'
Sunak also used a newspaper column in July to claim an IndyRef2 was "the wrong priority at the worst possible moment".
He wrote that the United Kingdom was the "most successful political union in history, and has stood the test of time in withstanding some of the greatest challenges we have ever faced”.
"Working together and uniting is what made us such a formidable force on the world stage,” he wrote.
"Scotland has achieved so much as part of the UK, and the UK has achieved so much because of Scotland. We can build on that success for the future, and I have a plan to do it."
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
