The worst reason for voting No to independence is because you don’t like Alex Salmond, and the worst reason for voting Yes is because you don’t like David Cameron. This is a long-term decision about the future governance of Scotland, not a referendum on some here-today, gone-tomorrow politicians on either side of the campaign. However, as the Telegraph reports today (emphasis mine):
The Prime Minister is mindful too of the political peril that comes with defeat. Losing the referendum would be a terminal event for the Conservative and Unionist Party and, as Westminster now acknowledges, would require his immediate resignation. Unsurprisingly, if somewhat depressingly, some Tory MPs have begun factoring in the loss of Scotland as a way of achieving the regime change they yearn for at the top.
Let’s not leave that anti-Cameron glee to the headbangers and Europhobes. Let’s instead accept that the stakes are a little higher even than we thought. Imagine if we could achieve democratic self-governance and simultaneously leave our English/Welsh/Northern Irish friends with a legacy to be thankful for, i.e. ending the political career of the most right-wing Prime Minister in living memory.
This should be a wakeup call to the rUK left. You may not instinctively support independence, perhaps because you’ve got an unduly rosy view of the dinosaurs and timeservers (of all parties) we tend to send to Westminster, or perhaps because you don’t see how it will benefit you. But a Cameron resignation, followed by a vitriolic battle for the future of the Tory party just eight short months before a UK General Election? It’s surely time to book the buses to Scotland from Brighton and Manchester and the Rhondda. Help us to help you.
Seeing an end to Cameron’s misrule shouldn’t swing any votes in Scotland – after all, if he stayed on after a Yes vote he wouldn’t be our problem anyway. But a Yes vote certainly brings some pretty enticing fringe benefits for the left both north and south of the border.
#1 by Bill Kerr-Smith on March 18, 2014 - 3:49 pm
Excellent point and I enjoyed the article, but you went a little over the top in describing “Call me Dave” as “the most right-wing PM in living memory”. I’m no’ deid yet, but I remember Thatcher pretty clearly.
#2 by James on March 18, 2014 - 3:57 pm
As do I, Bill, and I think this lot are worse. To be honest, I thought Major was worse than she was – he did the privatisations she couldn’t manage, including the bloody trains. This lot did the Royal Mail and the NHS (down south), so I rank them top of my right-o-meter, but it’s a bit subjective!
#3 by mel spence on March 18, 2014 - 6:07 pm
James.
As each day passes, the resemblance of a large section of the Tory Party to the US Tea Party grows. The sooner we get away from these whack jobs the better.
#4 by Allan on March 19, 2014 - 12:13 am
I agree with Bill. Call me Dave’s not the most right wing PM in history, rather i think he’s a more extreme version of Major. Wanting to be what used to be called a “tory wet” (ie a moderate) but buffeted by a combination of events and a party that haven’t forgiven him for not winning in 2010 and for forcing them into a coalition with… horror of horrors… the Lib Dems.
That the 2010 intake were a collection of power hungry right wingers doesn’t help Cameron, while I think Osborne is way more Right Wing than Cameron. Leading a government dependent on Lib Dem votes for survival puts Cameron in a more parlous position and makes him even more a prisoner of the right of his party than John Major.
#5 by bjsalba on March 20, 2014 - 8:03 am
He may not be the most right wing, that I think, is a matter of discussion.
It does seem to me, however, that he is the most lying and deceitful ever.
I think of vote blue get green, big society, NHS promises et c.
Scotland’s loathing of the Tories is increasing by the day.