The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
As David Cameron found out yesterday, the famous opening line of LP Hartley’s The Go-Between applies equally well to Scotland.
Fresh from being feted south of the border, the new Conservative Prime Minister was forced to dodge around 200 protesters on the Royal Mile railing against “Tory scum” as he made his northern debut, ducking into the Scottish Parliament by the tradesman’s entrance.
The last time Cameron visited Holyrood, just days after being elected his party’s leader in 2005, he swept in via the ceremonial reception at Queensberry House.
But with a noisy crowd waving signs such as “Deport the Tories” and “Tory Toffs F*** Off” outside, his plan to repeat the move was abandoned in favour of slipping into the secure carpark at the rear of the building.
if the Scottish Parliament wish it, I shall appear every year at the Scottish Parliament to answer questions David Cameron
Taking a break from singing “There’s only one Scottish Tory”, a protester with a loudhailer informed the waiting media of the change before the parliament’s officials managed it.
Coming just a week after the Conservatives failed to add to their single Scottish MP for the third election in a row, it was yet more proof that Cameron was in hostile territory.
And once inside the parliament – the first parliament he had been to since getting his seals of office, ahead even of Westminster – he went out his way to acknowledge the fact.
Following a half-hour joint meeting with Labour leader Iain Gray, LibDem Tavish Scott and Tory leader Annabel Goldie, Cameron strode into the garden lobby to deliver a statement on the “respect agenda” he plans for Scotland, and which he hopes can blunt SNP and Labour attacks on Tory spending cuts.
After almost three years in which Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond barely spoke, far less co-operated, he said he wanted a fresh start to relations between Edinburgh and London.
“I promised that if I became Prime Minister I would come to Scotland within a week, in order to come to the Scottish Parliament to show my respect for the devolved institutions and also to seek a meeting with the First Minister.
“However much we may disagree about issues we should try to work together for the benefit of the whole of the United Kingdom and for the benefit of Scotland as well. That is what I’m determined to do.
“I want to make the devolved institutions in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland work, and work well. And I want a real agenda of respect between our parties, so I want to see Scottish ministers able to appear at select committees in Westminster and I believe if the Scottish Parliament wish it, I shall appear every year at the Scottish Parliament to answer questions.”
Besides more of his own visits, Cameron said he would also send Treasury ministers to Holyrood to explain budget decisions, while the Scottish Secretary would explain the consequences for Scotland of legislation in the Queen’s Speech.
Cameron also admitted his party remained mistrusted north of the border. “The Conservatives particularly have to work hard to win the trust of the people in Scotland. That’s why I’m here today.”
He was slick, well-briefed, focused like a laser on his message, and a born communicator. His sidekick for the day, Danny Alexander, the new LibDem Scottish Secretary, was not.
At one point, Cameron tried to bring him into a discussion by saying he was sure Danny had something to contribute. Only Danny didn’t.
“I’m not sure there’s much for me to add,” he fumbled.
As protesters failed to learn the lesson of Cameron’s entrance and gathered at the pre-announced departure point, the Prime Minister again used the back door for his exit.
It was then a quick drive up Calton Hill to St Andrew’s House, where Alex Salmond and John Swinney were waiting in the drizzle to lay on a quick handshake for the cameras.
When Cameron left an hour later, a solitary egg from a protester missing his speeding Jag, the First Minister gave his thoughts on encountering his first Tory with power in 13 years.
Going beyond the standard nods to positive and constructive dialogue, he said it had been a far more detailed and thorough meeting than he had expected, suggesting Cameron intends to hit the ground running in Scotland and elsewhere.
Salmond said he had been “impressed” during the talks, but wanted to see Cameron’s respect agenda translated into deeds as well as words.
Action on capital spending, the fossil-fuel levy, knock-on money from the Olympics, and new borrowing powers would be his yardstick.
“All in all, it was a good ­meeting, it was a more ­substantive meeting than ­perhaps I’d expected in terms of the examination of the issues, and I think the Prime Minister’s to be commended for that.”
Asked teasingly by a reporter if something of a love-in was under way, Salmond looked startled, then, with a dig at Brown, admitted he’d rather have “a respect agenda to a disrespect agenda”.
Relatively speaking, that’s progress.
David Cameron pictured here earlier in 2010

Newly-appointed UK Prime Minister David Cameron today travelled north to Scotland to meet with the country's First Minister, Alex Salmond, for the first time since the general election. According to ''The Scotsman'', around 200 noisy protesters greeted the new PM, forcing security staff to take him into the devolved parliament via a back door.

Cameron's Conservative Party have traditionally been unpopular in Scotland. They won just one out of 59 Scottish seats in the election, gaining around seventeen per cent of the vote. Prior to the meeting, Salmond told reporters he intended to press Cameron for greater Scottish financial independence from Westminster, including greater tax powers— something supported by the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives' new coalition partners, and  the Lib Dem Scottish Secretary and on which Cameron has promised a cross-party commission. 
Alex Salmond shown here in 2008
Cameron had been seeking what he called a "fresh start" to restore ties between the parliaments at Westminster and Hollyrood. In addition to meeting the first minister, Cameron also met with the sixteen Conservatives currently sitting in the devolved Scottish Parliament. 

After the meeting, both Salmond and Cameron agreed that the conversation had been "positive and constructive" and Cameron pledged a mutual "respect agenda" which would see him address the devolved Scottish parliament every year if invited and, in return, MSPs would appear before Commons committees in Westminster.  

Cameron outlined part of his spending plans in preparation for an emergency budget, scheduled for fifty days after the election. He announced that no cuts would be made to the £30 billion annual budget for Scotland though that £6 billion in spending cuts would have to be made— something likely to cause controversy in Cameron's coalition government. However, both Cameron and Salmond anticipate that cuts may need to be made in subsequent years.

At a conference, Salmond said the talks had been "positive, constructive, detailed and substantive. I prefer a 'respect agenda' to a 'disrespect agenda'." He added that "how we judge the outcome of that agenda will be based on the policy options the Westminster government pursues, not just the words". At the same conference, Cameron told reporters "I believe, and Danny Alexander believes, that we should be pursuing the , and that that is a much greater degree of fiscal autonomy for Scotland."