Better Nation

16 Comments

• #1 by DougtheDug on November 4, 2011 - 1:10 pm

  

  The problem of course is that the Murdo is a two stage nuclear device.

  First he’s got to win the election to lead the Conservatives’ Scottish region and then he’s got to win the vote to pull the Scottish region out of the Conservative party.

  If the 50 megaton nuclear murdo only fizzles and fails to fire the second stage he’s going to be left as regional manager of a party he doesn’t believe in.

• #2 by commenter on November 4, 2011 - 1:16 pm

  

  GAME OVER MAN

• #3 by Indy on November 4, 2011 - 1:20 pm

  

  That’s made me want to watch Aliens again now.

• #4 by James Morton on November 4, 2011 - 5:18 pm

  

  My opinion for what it’s worth:

  Murdo Fraser wins – party splits in two – Murdo in charge of a party that looks and sounds like UKIP. Rest of Tory party changes into a slightly bitter version of the crofters party

  Any of the others win – Party becomes increasingly irrelevant, slowly morphing into a version of the Crofters party.

  I think I covered all the bases there

  • #5 by Anonymous on November 4, 2011 - 8:29 pm

    

    The Crofters’ Party were a radical organisation demanding land reform for ordinary people in the fact of absentee landlords who owned Highland estates, therefore they were ideologically opposed to grouse moor conservatives. I don’t think your reference makes much sense really.

    • #6 by James Morton on November 5, 2011 - 9:47 am

      

      My point [with tongue planted firmly in cheek] is that the Tories like the crofters party are no longer relevant. But I take your point about the history of the Crofters party [which I was ignorant of] and when I use this example again, I will be sure to use something relevant to underscore how irrelevant the Tories are becoming. I’m thinking “self licking lollipop” would be a good replacement phrase for them.

      • #7 by Anonymous on November 5, 2011 - 11:14 pm

        

        Given that they have done exactly what their Westmister bosses and major donors wanted them to do, I would certainly agree with the point you are making. Its no surprise that whatever vague indications of policy proposals Davidson has so far given, they are near identical to Cameron’s flagship policies. Its entirely patronising for senior Westminster Tories (who have walked all over the wishes of the Holyrood group) to think that Ruth Davidson’s mere presence will encourage Scots to vote for them. There is far more to it than that, and its actually got everything to do with policy. Annabel Goldie’s lack of electoral success in spite of her personal popularity should have made that obvious.

        • #8 by James Morton on November 6, 2011 - 8:05 pm

          

          Oh it’s down to policies but it is also the thorny issue of trust. No one trusts them not to do their worst once in power. It doesn’t really matter what they say now as more people have simply stopped listening to them.

• #9 by Ken on November 4, 2011 - 5:26 pm

  

  Well, Ruth Davidson won it.

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-15580663

  “The 32-year-old beat off competition…” – Seriously, there has to be a better way of phrasing that…

• #10 by Nikostratos on November 4, 2011 - 6:21 pm

  

  Tim Montgomerie says on the Tory diary

  PS Ruth Davidson is a lesbian. Further proof if further proof was needed that the Tory grassroots are far different from the way they are caricatured

  http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2011/11/ruth-davidson-is-the-new-leader-of-the-scottish-conservatives-.html

  a more cringeworthy comment would be hard to find and reveals more about Tim than he realises

  • #11 by Indy on November 5, 2011 - 6:40 am

    

    I think that is fair comment actually because I wondered if being gay would be a disadvantage for Ruth – really I had no idea if it would be or not because I don’t know many Tory party members, but the popular stereotype of Scottish Conservatives is of a somewhat old fashioned crew. And I’m not the only one who wondered about that, judging by this tweet from Unison Dave: Congrats to Ruth Davidson. Never thought twin set & pearls set would buy it.

    It’s good to know that the popular stereotype is not based in reality, and I think it bodes well that we have a Tory leader who is Conservative, Christian and gay.

    • #12 by An Duine Gruamach on November 5, 2011 - 8:48 pm

      

      Hard to say how it reflects on the membership as a whole – almost half didn’t even vote.

• #13 by FormerChampagneSocialist on November 4, 2011 - 7:31 pm

  

  As a Nat I was hoping Murdo wouldn’t win, as he could have potentially made some inroads. So, Ruth’s win is good news for the Eckmeister.

  if I was a Tory voter I’d be in total despair. The party has pretty much attempted suicide, and I think the attempt will prove successful.

• #14 by Barbarian on November 4, 2011 - 7:32 pm

  

  I’m glad Murdo did not win it. I cannot take him seriously. The Tories will remain irrelevant for several years so it is of little consequence who leads them for now.

  But someone I can’t see her being a political Ripley!

• #15 by Observer on November 4, 2011 - 8:43 pm

  

  Fantastic clip. Sadly Ruth is no Ripley.

• #16 by Doug Daniel on November 5, 2011 - 4:21 pm

  

  So the Tory party faithful wish their party to go the same way as their coalition partners. Fair enough, the “no change” candidate was always going to win – after all, they’re not called “conservatives” for nothing.

  The only way Murdo could have come out victorious was by winning over 50% in the first round – effectively, it was a straight choice between “change the party” and “don’t change the party”, so if you didn’t vote for him first time round, you were unlikely to vote for him the second time either.

  But what happens now? How can Murdo retain any credibility campaigning for the party he wanted to dissolve? When he goes out knocking on doors asking for people’s votes, people will be entitled to say “why should I vote for them? You don’t even believe in them yourself!”

  Murdo still needs to create that centre-right party, and his backers in Holyrood (the MAJORITY of the Tory MSPs) need to go with him. If they stay, they have absolutely no credibility.

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