Monthly Archives: August 2011

Dave Petrie

August 31, 2011   Mark Brown   No comments
dave

Tory Hoose learns that former Highland & Islands Scottish Conservative MSP Dave Petrie has sadly passed away.

2011 Holyrood Candidate for Orkney Jamie Halcro Johnston told Tory Hoose that he was “very sad to learn that Dave has passed away. Thoughts are with his family. A genuinely nice man who’ll be missed.”

Dave Petrie was born in Edinburgh on the 10 th December 1946 and was educated at Trinity Academy in Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University where he graduated with a BSc in Civil Engineering, and Moray House School of Education (now part of Edinburgh University) where he obtained a PGCE in Mathematics.

He worked as a Roads Department Engineer for Argyll County Council from 1971 to 1975 then as Roads and Water Services Chartered Engineer and Manager for Strathclyde Regional Council from 1975 until 1996. He was West of Scotland Water Manager from 1996 until 2002 and Scottish Water Community Relations Manager from 202 until 2003.  From 2003 until 2004 he worked at Moray House School of Education and from 2004 until 2006 at Oban & Lochaber High School. He is survived by wife Grace to whom they had daughter Gill and was a member of  the Church of Scotland.

Petrie held the post of spokesman for Communities from 2006 to 2007.

Read More

Teenage Kicks – Lachlan Bruce selected as Fa’side Ward Council Candidate

August 31, 2011   Mark Brown   No comments
LachlanBruce

18 year old Lachlan Bruce has been selected as the Scottish Conservative Candidate for the East Lothian Council’s Fa’side ward in Tranent.

A former Ross High school pupil, Lachlan is currently the MSYP for East Lothian at Scottish Youth Parliament and is a keen cricketer, he plays for local side Tranent CC.

Bruce said of his selection, “I am absolutely delighted to be selected as the candidate for the ward that I grew up in. It is always a great honor to be selected to represent the Conservatitive Party especially at a young age like mine. I will more than likely be the youngest candidate standing in East Lothian and being only 18 years old people will question me about my age it is only natural but I know despite my age that I would be a good councillor for the ward and I hope that the people of Fa’side give me the chance.”

Tory Hoose wishes Lachlan all the very best and will catch up with the Teenage Tory on the campaign trail over the coming months.

Read More

SNP lack guts in Glasgow

August 31, 2011   Andrew Hardie   No comments

The SNP’s National Executive Committee signed off on a policy of standing 40 candidates across Glasgow, a move which is seen within Labour and Conservative circles alike as a sign of uncertainty and indecisiveness.

The SNP gained 5 of the 8 constituency seats within the Glasgow City Council area and, if proceeding with 40 candidates only, will require every candidate to be selected to gain a majority of 1 in a chamber of 79 councillors. The SNP are showing a lack of ambition, which suggest they don’t expect to maintain their strong polling position or electoral success into the local elections. Are the wheels falling off the SNP bandwagon?

Read More

Glasgow South Selects Local Government Candidates

August 29, 2011   Andrew Hardie   No comments

Glasgow’s Conservative Associations have moved closer to selecting all of their two top tier local government seats, with candidates now in place for the Newlands/Auldburn, Partick West, Pollokshields, Linn, Anderston City  and Langside wards.

Glasgow’s sole Tory councillor David Meikle (Pollokshields) received the unanimous support of Party members, local resident and Community Council member Robert McElroy has been selected for the crucial Newlands/Auldburn ward, which is within grasp according to the previous election result – approximately only 150 additional Tory 1st preference votes required to gain an extra seat in City Chambers.  Cllr Meikle is expected to be returned in his ward after gaining vast personal support within the area.

Party Agent John Anderson was selected unopposed for the Partick West ward.  Following a selection meeting at the Glasgow South Conservative Association at the end of August, Russell Munn was re-selected to contest the Langside ward and Andrew Morrison was selected to contest the Linn ward – another ward where the Party could make progress, with approximately 250 2nd and 3rd preference votes from Liberal Democrat supporters to be won over to swing one of the four seats on offer.

 David Barnes shall contest the Anderston City ward.

Tory Hoose wishes them all good hunting, and hopes there will be new faces to work alongside Cllr Meikle on Glasgow Council next year.

Read More

Time for the ‘Tartan Tories’ to come home.

August 29, 2011   Andrew Hardie   No comments

 

One factor was instrumental in the SNP’s rise to victory in May’s election, and that was the SNP’s ability to attract voters from all of the main parties. While we saw the Tory vote fall slightly due to voters switching to the SNP, this was no where near as dramatic she quantities of labour supporters switching to the SNP http://news.scotsman.com/scottishlabourparty/Inside-politics-Former-Labour-voters.6792716.jp  (a fact that was masked from a delusional labour party thanks to Lib Dem’s who switched to labour) While it is naive to attribute this entirely to tactical voting, there was clear a desire amongst Scottish voters to keep Labour out of office.

The Tories didn’t help their cause running round telling everyone how well we got on with the SNP, this was little more than an endorsement of Salmond’s gang sending  out a message to Tory supporters that voting SNP wouldn’t do the Tories any harm. It looked like we preferred the Nationalists to the Nasty Reds. But it goes deeper than this, for years now Tory leaning people have been too willing to lend their support to the SNP, as the best placed party to keep labour out, or as a sort of almost centre right alternative to those wishing to protest against the current leadership. These voters led to the original ‘Tartan Tory’ name attached to the SNP.

But now things have changed, the SNP have a majority and they are pushing their unpopular and divisive separatism policy. This is like a bucket of cold water over the sleeping heads of many voters who never expected the SNP to win outright, it is a wakeup call to many Tories who leant their support to the SNP and we need to reach out to them and give them a reason to come back. Conservatives need to develop a proper regional vote strategy and remind voters that no matter how safe a labour or SNP seat that they live in, they can still help elected conservatives. This becomes even more important in local elections, where with a weakening of the Lib Dem support, the tories have a real opportunity to make progress at local government level right across Scotland. There is a new breed of younger ambitious candidates in the Scottish Conservatives, who are not happy being paper candidates and living in the happy nobility of defeat. Conservatives are back in Westminster, and in coalition in local government right across Scotland. They are no longer happy being honourable also-rans, and for the first time in decades have an appetite to win again in Scotland.

It is time for the Tartan Tories to come home, make a positive vote for an ideology they believe in.  Come on, its time to stop the SNP’s divisive agenda.

Read More

The relationship between the public sector and the voluntary sector.

August 29, 2011   Rob Murray   No comments

In Scotland today we are hearing more of the third and voluntary sector. One might ask them self what these sectors do? Where have they come from? And most importantly do we need them?
All very important questions!

In short, modern society does need the third and voluntary sector, some of these organisations have been about from the early nineteen hundreds and they mostly work for the benefit of protecting and supporting young people and the most vulnerable in society!

Local governments this year faced difficult decisions in reducing their spending due to another round of the never ending council tax freeze! Those that were hit the hardest through the recent freeze were our most vulnerable through cuts to youth, addiction, literacy, elderly provisions.

With more cuts filtering down to local councils it important that we don’t forget how important it is to continue services for the most vulnerable. One might ask, how do we protect those who work with vulnerable people from cuts?…the answer is very simple, take projects run by councils and put them out to tender! This in turn would reduce the pressures on local councils and their budgets.

At present councils provide services that are based around cost which in practice means a service with the view of one size fits all! If contracts had to be put out to tender then this would give the opportunity for the third and voluntary sector organisations to provide a service that is suited to the needs of service users.

So, the next step one might ask. There is at present a lot of support for this way of working in the field. The Conservative party has been at the forefront of this policy and have submitted plans for this to be enforced in England and Wales! In Scotland we have less hope! The Scottish Conservatives are pushing for this in parliament however other parties are not interested. Labour would not touch this policy due to fear of their TU pay masters at local council level kicking up a fuss! As for the SNP, they would not entertain this policy as they promise the world to the public sector and would not want to risk losing public sector support.

The only way to protect funding for those working with vulnerable people is by putting all contracts out for tender!

Read More

Murdo Fraser’s Leadership Campaign Launch

August 29, 2011   Andrew Hardie   No comments

Murdo Fraser has been tipped for great things for many years, and he is often considered the front runner for the Scottish Tory leadership. But as David Davis could tell him, being front runner is not always the best position to start in. Murdo will have to keep his eye firmly on the track and try not to stumble, because he has two eager opponents at the starting blocks just itching to overtake.

With the backing of Liz Smith MSP and Alex Johnstone MSP, Murdo has got his campaign off to a reasonable gallop. What with his Murdo2011 branding, there is a  slightly presidential feel to Murdo’s campaign for the leadership. Is this a sign of confidence and professionalism or is this an Obamaesque style over substance?

A new site www.murdo2011.com is gearing up for launch to coincide with the launch of his campaign on 5th September. Tory Hoose will be there to bring you all the news and gossip, as well as live tweeting and a round up of the event.

 

Read More

Holyrood – Recess

August 28, 2011   Mark Brown   No comments
parliament-exterior-at-night1

From 2 July – 4 September 2011 (inclusive) the Parliament will be in recess.

During recess no Parliamentary business takes place.

Read More

Conservative Party Conference – Manchester

August 28, 2011   Mark Brown   No comments
scottishconservativestree

The Scottish Conservatives are once again out in force at the 2011 Party Conference.

There are two schedule events in the Conference Programme, both on Monday 3rd in the Midland Hotel, being held by the Scottish Conservatives.

These events are extremely well attended and the Reception last year was addressed by the Prime Minister.

 

Scottish Conservative Fringe Meeting
Monday 3rd October, 12:30 – 14:00 in the Trafford
Room, Midland Hotel. Buffet lunch.

Scottish Conservative Reception
Monday 3rd October, 17:30 – 19:00 in the Trafford Room,
Midland Hotel. Drinks reception.

All Conference Pass holders welcome.


The Conference will be held in Manchester from Sunday 2 October to Wednesday 5 October.  Applications to attend should be made via the Conservative Party website

Read More

Perth and Kinross By-Election – Highland Ward

August 28, 2011   Mark Brown   No comments
Graham Rees, Candidate Highland Ward, Perth & Kinross

Graham Rees is the Scottish Conservative Candidate for the Highland Ward By-Election, to be held on Thursday 15th September.

The Ward includes the main towns of Aberfeldy, Pitlochry and Blair Atholl with a total electorate of around 7000 people. At the last by-election in 2008, following the death of incumbant councillor Eleanor Howie, the turnout was 43.6% and Graham finished a clear 2nd, some 22% ahead of the Lib Dem Candidate.

Five candidates have now declared for the by-election on 15 September to fill the vacancy in Ward 4,  namely Victor Clements - Scottish Liberal Democrats, William Leszke - Independent, Graham Rees - Scottish Conservative and Unionist, Chris Rennie - Independent and Mike Williamson - Scottish National Party (SNP).

Voting will be by Single Transferable Vote (STV) meaning that voters will be asked to indicate their preference by numbering the candidates in order of choice, so they will put 1 next to the name of the candidate who is their first choice, 2 next to their second choice, 3 next to their third choice and so on.

If you can help with the by-election please contact Caroline Shiers on 01738 553990 or email [email protected]

 

Read More
Page 1 of 212

  • Get Email Updates