A new Poll conducted by Comres has found a the Conservatives edge ahead of Labour, which during their conference will no doubt start further mutterings about Ed Miliband’s leadership. The Poll found the Conservatives on 37%, Labour on 36% and the Lib Dems on just 12% per cent.
This comes just as Ed Miliband is set to be deselected as the head of Scottish Labour, reflecting the growing ill will towards the lackluster leader.
Jackson Carlaw’s campaign has received a boost today as it was announced that the Highlands & Islands MSP, Mary Scanlon will be backing Jackson Carlaw. She said that she has not, “rushed to endorse anyone. I have waited to hear from all the candidates before making any decision.” Stating that she believed the party needed a leader who will bring about substantive changes in the party and who will work with all members, Scanlon said: “We need a Leader who is confident enough to work with every member of the Party, past allegiances aside and open to hearing to ideas that are different to his own. We need a Leader who understands how we can both reach out to voters and reorganise our Party. We need a Leader who believes in the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party.”
Commenting on the endorsement, Jackson Carlaw said:
“I am delighted to have the support of Mary and Douglas particularly as it follows the first national hustings where they were able to hear from all the candidates and to make their decision based on what we each had to say and the platform we presented. In this election every vote is equal. Members have been given the chance to vote for a new leader for the very first time ever. They don’t need to be told how to use it by those, however esteemed, who have not even listened to the arguments first. Mary Scanlon’s support follows the publication of nominations for the leadership last Friday in which Jackson received support from former Government Ministers, MPs, sitting councillors and senior experienced key activists from across Scotland.”
The endorsement will come as an extra boot for Carlaw after a Tory Hoose exit poll after Saturday’s hustings gave Jackson 58% of the support.
Murdo Fraser has gained more support for his leadership bid after former Scottish Conservative MEPs John Purvis, John Corrie and James Provan gave their unanimous backing to Murdo Fraser’s leadership campaign.
They join the Scottish Conservative’s only current MEP, Struan Stevenson, who was one of Mr Fraser’s influential backers at the start of his campaign, as well as six MSPs and well over 40 Councillors so far. The former MEPs have all declared that they believe Murdo Fraser is the only leadership candidate who will safeguard Scotland’s best interests in the EU.
In a joint statement, the former MEPs said: “We have all known Murdo Fraser for some time and greatly admire the work he has done as Deputy Leader within the Party. We have been impressed, not only by his refreshing vision for the future, but by his commitment to strengthening the UK and ensuring that it can play a stronger card in European politics. We give him our wholehearted support.”
Murdo said: “I am delighted to receive this further backing from these highly respected individuals in the party. These three former, distinguished MEPs have given great service to our party and to politics in Scotland and I am greatly encouraged by their support and their commitment to my vision for the future.
“I welcome these endorsements which come from MEPs who represent a cross section of views within the party.
“Throughout this campaign, I will continue to focus on my positive ideas for the way forward and building a stronger centre-right progressive party which will start winning again.”
Archie McIntyre is the current Chairman of Glasgow South-West. He has been in the party for many years and brings with him a wealth of knowledge and campaign experience.
We Scottish Tories aren’t used to leadership campaigns on our own doorstep. The inappropriate way some senior figures have been behaving towards their colleagues, both in Parliament and out of it, demonstrates this inexperience.
It all started when candidates started smearing others with comments they didn’t actually make. Then it was annoying our members who do not wish to get actively involved within the party by pestering them to support particular candidates, and now resorting to throwing election results at one another.
Murdo lost a small share of the vote in May’s election – but so did the vast majority of candidates. That is only because Murdo wasn’t able to fully express and act upon what he saw as our vision for the future. How could he implement plans to give us more autonomy over our own associations, and our party in Scotland, whilst Annabel was leader? This would undermine her authority and break cabinet solidarity. This is a leadership contest, and this is the right time and place to express these points of view. Scurrying off to the press or churning out press releases is not. Comparing Murdo’s election result to the results we could obtain if he wins is not comparing like with like.
It is the independent polling of what Scots really think about our current party, and how that impression changes with a new party, that really matters.
If, like me, you are sceptical about polls, then surely the fact Murdo is the only leadership candidate to attract new sources of funding is a ringing endorsement alone?
Business leaders do not make bad investments – they are successful in their respective fields because they invest in ‘sure things’. We have been leaking financial backing for too many years now. We have gone from having a massive office in the heart of Edinburgh to being based in a former constituency association’s ‘rooms’. Or to be more specific: room and kitchen.
The reason why is entrepreneurs are tired of throwing good money after bad – tired of injecting donation after donation to bankroll our election campaigns which lead to nothing. The election campaigns themselves were sound and I should know having been involved actively within them for decades, but they were thwarted by a damaged party brand and a perception that we Scottish Conservatives act for English issues before Unionist issues and Scottish issues.
None of the young cavaliers around Ruth’s camp have the right to say I am any less proud of being a Tory then they are because I back Murdo. I have been delivering leaflets and campaigning for this Party the length of breadth of Scotland since they were in nappies. And it is precisely because I have been delivering leaflets and knocking-up for decades with fruitless results that I feel it is now time to change our approach.
It is no good saying we need to shout that bit louder, or push that extra bit harder. In some campaigns, such as Richard Cook’s campaign for Renfrewshire East in 2010, we couldn’t possibly have got any more activists in, spoken to any more people, or printed and delivered any more leaflets than we did. Yet we not only failed to make headway – we took a massive step backwards. And that was no reflection of Richard Cook’s performance in any way because he fought the election very well.
So I don’t buy that simplistic line the other contenders are trotting out – the line that all we have to do is carry on business as normal but on a bigger, louder scale.
Nor do I buy the line that a change in personality at the top will be a magic bullet. Sir John Major was infamous for not having a big personality, but he was personable because he was just a regular person. No big personality or huge charisma, yet he gave us the best result we had for decades in 1992.
Then you have Annabel, who does have a lot of personality and charisma, yet under her leadership we lost a quarter of our seats (20 notionally, down to 15).
This is an election campaign amongst friends and colleagues, and we need to get that into perspective. This campaign is not about a personality cult, or indeed, personality cull. So let it come from an older head to younger ones – let’s all cool it a bit and may the best, and yes, most honourable, contender win.
Edinburgh Southside / Newington Councillor Cameron Rose has this morning published on his blog his official endorsement of Leadership Candidate Murdo Fraser.
In his blog http://cameronrose.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-im-supporting-murdo-fraser.htmlRose gives his views on the man with the reform plan in an extract from an email coversation with a local Conservative.
In the email, Rose writes “I have warmed to the Fraser proposals.
First, there was a new element of leadership about this. He was well placed to win – to coast into a position of modest esteem in Scottish society. The very act of taking the risk to his sinecure suggests to me two things. Vision and boldness.
As to vision, it suggests to me he is serious about searching for and seeking the environment for electoral success. It suggests he is looking for the bigger prize of a right of centre representation at the Scottish decision making it to the table. That ambition is attractive to me.
As to boldness; “Who dares wins”. I admire someone who puts vision above personal security.But what of the issues. (The change of name, whilst not of no moment, is certainly a minor consideration in the issues at stake.)
Such management/ governance experience as I have makes me warm to the break from our London based party. It is healthy to cut the umbilical cord of life-support from London. Because, actually it suffocates rather than supports. He who pays the piper calls the tune and the situation in a devolved, SNP dominated Scotland, requires a nimble and self confident party of Scottish Conservatives to take the cut and thrust to the enemy. You do not engender either of those qualities by looking over your shoulder to a big brother or paymaster for every decision. Rather be joined by common principles.
What of finance?
Financial dependence often paralyses. It has been a contributory factor to our demise. If we cannot raise money here in Scotland I doubt we are worthy of anything. In any case, there are potential supporters aplenty who have not given to the Scottish Conservatives or who have given their money to other parties. Some have given their money to the SNP to break the oppressive Labour hegemony in Scotland. If the argument was that the SNP are a lesser evil, then they have succeeded. Some, I suspect, will be more than happy to come back to a party of conservative principles.
And let’s talk of coming back to the party. Rather than the gradual haemorrhage of membership and support that has been seen over the last generation, th Fraser proposals offer an intriguing invitation. It is to those (languishing) Lib Dems who are unhappy with their party. It is to those tartan Tories who hav uncomfortably sidled over to join the SNP. I say invite them back and give them a say in the big tent and in shaping our right of centre policies. This is a opportunity to bring in new blood we have kept out of our Conservative club in recent years.
Scottish Conservative leadership contender Ruth Davidson calls for a new brand of government that will support rather than interfere in the lives of Scots, delivered under the framework of a strong Union.
“If I am elected, I want my first meeting with the Prime Minister to be about how we can work together to achieve a better Scotland and a better Britain. I don’t want the new leader’s first meeting with David Cameron to be about suing for divorce,’ she said. Ms Davidson spelled out her vision for the Scottish Conservatives as a revitalised party of aspiration and opportunity, dedicated to smaller, better government.”
“I firmly believe that the role of government and the role of politicians today should be to interfere less in areas of life where people themselves can achieve what is required and to offer greater support to those who genuinely need help,” she said.
“When it comes to families in need of our support, we need to be there for them. When business needs our help, we need to be there for them and when people feel threatened in their own homes or on our streets we need to be there for them too. But whenever and wherever possible, we have to let people get on with their lives without the heavy hand of government constantly upon them. We have to let families bring up their children unfettered by unnecessary and unwanted government intervention, and we have to allow businesses to grow and prosper encouraged, not stifled, by endless red tape, regulation and political interference. At the same time, government and politicians need to revise their roles and see that their real value lies in giving real help and support to those who most need it.”
“For example, there are a growing number of young families in Scotland who need and deserve better childcare support. Government needs to be there for them. We can and we should being doing so much more to help them. In business, I am proud that we Conservatives have helped relieve the business rate burden on thousands of small firms but, again, there is so much more we can do to help in this field. There is a genuine role for government and politicians to assist in supporting businesses so that they, in turn, can grow and prosper, creating more jobs and more security. Government needs to be there for them, too. And government needs to be there to keep us safe in our homes and on our streets by supporting our police and our justice system.”
“These are the areas in which government needs to play its part – where we need it to be there for us – not interfering where it does not help but only hinders.”
Ms Davidson, 32, the youngest of the four candidates standing in the election, said leadership wasn’t an entitlement or an inheritance. She added: “For me, leadership is not determined by time-served or personal ambition. It is a frame of mind – a way of looking at the world. Leadership is about character, moral courage, judgement and determination. It is about fortitude and an ability to attract new people from all walks of life to the cause that we serve. It is asking the tough questions and not just grasping at the easy answers. I want to lead this party forward to strength, success and victory. We cannot achieve these aims by breaking up our party, divorcing ourselves from the party of government in the UK or by merely changing our name. But we can attain these goals by sticking together and by marching forward in a spirit of renewed self-belief and confidence that we have the best approach to better government.”
11th hour Scottish Conservative Leadership Candidate Margaret Mitchell MSP has hit back at today’s claims by Murdo Fraser that “none of the Candidates can steer this ship back to success”.
Mitchell, who took just 48 hours to gather more than 150 nominations from party members to enter the race, stated that a name change for the Party would make absolutely no difference to fighting the cause. “In order to restore faith in Scottish Conservatives and our fortunes, we need to engage with the people of Scotland”, she exclusively told Tory Hoose.
The arch-Unionist and Central Scotland List MSP commented that powerpoints and spreadsheet are all very well, however as Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, she would set out her vision to re-address how the Party engages with the electorate at her forthcoming launch.
Mitchell said, “We must earn the trust and respect of the people. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party under my Leadership will be the Party of choice where people will come to us with their issues of the day and we will build our Party based on listening to the Scottish electorate.
We will be the Party of the People. We will build on trust and respect and by discussing the topics that matter to the electorate, not just to the politicians and academics, the fruits of our labour will in turn boost our membership, our strong body of Candidates and more success at the ballot box.
In our Party already, we have a fantastic and loyal membership. I am proud to have been a Scottish Conservative & Unionist for 42 years and am as motivated now as I was when I first joined the Party as a Young Conservative.”
Mitchell, who had reportedly suggested that she would have like to have seen Lord Forsyth as the next Leader of the Scottish Conservatives before any candidates had come forward, has been outspoken in the past at Holyrood for her desire to engage with the electorate.
Speaking back in March 2011 during the Legislative Consent Motio: Scotland Bill – UK Legislation over the 10p tax raising measures, she said, “Politicians know that constitutional change is not the major issue raised by constituents.”
Mrs Mitchell branded the Calman review, “a reaction by the unionist parties to the advent of minority SNP government in May 2007″.
“In other words,” she said, “Holyrood politicians decided to constitutionally navel-gaze, when, in the real world, it was widely recognised that the elephant in the room is the desperate need to reform how business in the Scottish Parliament is actually carried out.”
Attacking the previous public consultation held on reforms at Holyrood for being too narrow, Mrs Mitchell said: “The only way to ensure that the Scottish Parliament and its members generally seek the views of and listen to the people it represents on this most important of all issues is to hold a nationwide Scottish referendum.”
Her amendment was defeated 77-47 with the unlikely allies of the SNP and Alex Salmond backing her amendment.
Scottish Conservative & Unionist MSP John Lamont hit back today after leadership hopeful Murdo Fraser claimed the party was in danger of suffering the same fate as Tommy Sheridan’s Scottish Socialists.
Mr Lamont, who is campaign manager for leadership contender Ruth Davidson MSP, said he was ‘surprised and dismayed’ that Mr Fraser seemed determined to bin the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party and insult hard working candidates and activists across Scotland.
He said: ‘Murdo has been a Conservative MSP since 2001 and deputy leader of our party since 2005. No one is disputing that the party has been in serious decline, but surely as the deputy leader he has to accept some responsibility for what has happened.
Today Mr Lamont said: ‘Murdo is using a lot of statistics to try to make his case. Perhaps Murdo should reflect upon his own performance against that of the Party over the same period. John Scott MSP, Alex Fergusson MSP and myself have demonstrated that we can win as Scottish Conservatives and Unionists.
‘Murdo’s solution of disbanding the party and suing for divorce from the rest of the movement is not the answer. We need the generational change that can be offered by Ruth Davidson.
Only she can offer a fresh approach that will reach out to modern Scotland without demolishing the very foundations on which our party was built.’
Notes to Editors/political correspondents:
The following graph http://toryhoose.com/files/Murdo%20vs%20SCUP.XLS compares Murdo Fraser’s personal vote in the last three Scottish Parliament elections with that of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party overall.
Plans to ‘disband’ the Party hit a brick wall with Members at Inverness Leadership Hustings
Following the first national Hustings of the Leadership campaign held in Inverness, Murdo Fraser has issued a power point presentation in an attempt to overcome his inability to either reassure or explain his plans convincingly to members.
However, at the heart of his presentation is polling evidence, which shows that some 56% think a change of name will either have a negative effect or make no difference to voting intentions whatsoever. The findings are reflected equally in men and women and crucially are even more sceptical among voters aged 35 and older who are traditionally likely to vote in greater numbers.
Jackson Carlaw MSP said
‘It is clear that despite daily media releases from Murdo telling us that he has widespread support for his plans to create a new Party, they hit a spectacular brick wall in Inverness yesterday.
Ever since these proposals were first announced they have been ‘the elephant in the room’. Yesterday, Murdo failed to convince members of his case and to use his own words, he ‘needs to get real’ about his situation.
Today Annabel Goldie MSP has joined those rejecting his proposals.
Studying this presentation it is clear that my own view is in line with the vast majority of members. A superficial change of name will make no difference and is in any event, both divisive and a huge distraction. We would be navel gazing for at least 18 months with no guarantee that Murdo’s plans would even then be approved and all while Alex Salmond plots to break up the Union.
What is needed is a change in substance; a change in the face of the Party, a strategy to develop and adopt election winning policies and an election winning organisation to support them.
Instead of focusing on new logos and letterheads, we need to focus on the defence of the Union – Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom and the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party’s place in the UK Conservative Party,
A strong Scotland in a great Britain.’
Leadership candidate Murdo Fraser has released the presentation http://toryhoose.com/files/Murdo%20Fraser%20Presentation.pdf he will give at rallies around Scotland for the remainder of the election campaign.
The presentation shows that the Scottish Conservative vote has halved since 1997, which many still wrongly believe to be the party’s all-time low. It predicts that, if the party continues to lose regional list votes at the same rate as it has been since 1999, the party will be reduced to under 7% of the vote in just over 10 years – the same vote share as Tommy Sheridan’s SSP achieved in 2003.
Murdo said:
“I have been an activist for our party for 25 years. I, and thousands of members like me, have worked tirelessly for decades for this party. The least the members deserve is to know the unvarnished, unspun truth about the state we’re in.
“The reality is that, despite having popular and effective leaders such as Annabel Goldie and David McLetchie, we go backwards at every election. We have lost well over 100,000 votes since devolution, and if our trend goes on we will be reduced to a rump like the Greens and the SSP used to be.
“Our party has an identity problem. Despite good leaders and good policies, many centre-right Scots don’t vote for us because they don’t think we stand up for their interests.
“It’s time to get real about our situation. It’s time we stopped pulling the wool over the eyes of our members by pretending everything is going to get better if we simply shout louder. What do the candidates in this election think is going to make them more successful than Annabel without any form of radical change?
“None of the candidates in this election, including me, can steer this ship back to success. A new captain is not enough. We need a new ship.”
