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Goldie under siege as Tory rival bids to oust party leader

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SCOTS Tory leader Annabel Goldie is facing a determined bid to unseat her from the Parliament in an internal vote to take place this week.

Party members are to be asked to rank candidates for the forthcoming election, with only those at the top of the list likely to make it to Holyrood.

But Goldie is now facing an aggressive campaign by fellow candidate and Thatcherite stalwart Jackson Carlaw who has issued a thinly veiled attack on the leader in his bid to beat her in the vote.

In a 'communication' sent to party members in the West of Scotland and passed to Scotland on Sunday, Carlaw declares: "Wherever I go, people say they want robust leadership and someone who will take the fight to Labour." He also argues that the party needs "renewing" in the west of Scotland, which Goldie has represented for the past eight years.

Party sources said that the letter was a deliberate slight against Goldie, who has declared that she will offer "principled opposition" to a potential ruling Labour Party after the next election, backing them on an issue-by-issue basis.

The move has dismayed right-wingers in the party who want Goldie to put clear blue water between them and Jack McConnell's party.

Carlaw is said to have been assiduously courting members in Goldie's west of Scotland region. If he were to beat her in the party rankings, it would be a huge embarrassment for the leader.

The competition for ranking places is intense in the Tory ranks, with the party having adopted a one-member-one-vote system for 2007. Several relatively unknown candidates are now highlighting their 'freshness' as an alternative to some of the more established faces at the Parliament.

In another 'communication' obtained by Scotland on Sunday, Glasgow candidate Davena Rankin declares: "It is time to put the Conservatives' best and brightest young candidates into the Parliament." She is attempting to beat the 59-year old Glasgow MSP Bill Aitken.

Another candidate for the Highlands and Islands region, Helen Gardiner, said: "I think it would be positive if we had some new faces. We feel it is time to shake up what is happening at Holyrood. There is a lack of leadership in the Parliament. There are some good people there, but there are a lot of MSPs who people just don't know."


http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=34132007

What an excellent time for the Tories to start turning on each other, perhaps this new party might be well positioned to make a bit of capital on this, assuming it doesn't turn out to be a non-story.
Aventinian

It's an odd situation. Although they're not radical by any means, I actually thought Ms Goldie and the present Tory MSPs, by and large, performed rather well in the assembly. They gave principled and reasoned arguments in a calm, collected way and avoided the "punch and judy politics" which has been readily criticised by virtually everyone as an unpleasant feature of British politics.

Goldie is a pleasant leader who clearly cares about those she represents. Can you really ask for much more in a party that is said to have an image problem? I've certainly never heard a bad word said against her anyway.

While I'd like to see some new and fresh candidates in there, and I appreciate a lot of the Tory backbenchers have kept a low profile, I hardly believe this sort of internal conflict (I don't believe it's anything more than a few individuals stirring things up) is required or desired by the majority of party members.
IF Convenor

Assembly? It's interesting how your little slips reveal so much about you, Aventinian.
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Goldie is a pleasant leader who clearly cares about those she represents. Can you really ask for much more in a party that is said to have an image problem? I've certainly never heard a bad word said against her anyway.


Im sure you are right, but I dont think those that criticise her image are really saying she isn't a nice person or doesn't care about her constituents. Its just that she lacks that x factor that you need to be a leader, not that she's alone the same can be said for Nichol Stephen and Jack McConnell they just tend to shout louder though which gets them a bit more noticed. Of course I can understand why you respect her for not stooping to their level, unfortunately it hasn't helped raise her or the partys' profile much.
Neil

The tories problem is that they won't do or say anything which might embarass cameron. Since Cameron is bicycling towards the middle ground & is spending his first 18 months doing a policy review this means the Scots Tories dare not put forward any policies let alone Tory ones. Cameor's problem is quite different from that of Scotland. With the FTPT electoral system & 2 big parties it may make tactical sense to try to sieze the "middle ground", we have PR & 4 sizeable parties - the Tories need to get their traditional vote out to be players.

Annabel probably is nice & certainly more competent than Jack but unless the party offer something they have nothing to offer. An example of this is corporation tax cuts - thishas been SNP policy for a couple of years, Jack made noises about it in relation to the probablilty that Ulster will be allowed such powers, the SLD are now also asking for it (ironic in that my public advocation of this was part of the reason they expelled me) which leaves the Tories as the only big party not advocating this popular & important free market reform.
Aventinian

Neil wrote:
The tories problem is that they won't do or say anything which might embarass cameron. Since Cameron is bicycling towards the middle ground & is spending his first 18 months doing a policy review this means the Scots Tories dare not put forward any policies let alone Tory ones. Cameor's problem is quite different from that of Scotland. With the FTPT electoral system & 2 big parties it may make tactical sense to try to sieze the "middle ground", we have PR & 4 sizeable parties - the Tories need to get their traditional vote out to be players.

Annabel probably is nice & certainly more competent than Jack but unless the party offer something they have nothing to offer. An example of this is corporation tax cuts - thishas been SNP policy for a couple of years, Jack made noises about it in relation to the probablilty that Ulster will be allowed such powers, the SLD are now also asking for it (ironic in that my public advocation of this was part of the reason they expelled me) which leaves the Tories as the only big party not advocating this popular & important free market reform.


That's an excellent analysis.
azzuri

Neil wrote:
The tories problem is that they won't do or say anything which might embarass cameron. Since Cameron is bicycling towards the middle ground & is spending his first 18 months doing a policy review this means the Scots Tories dare not put forward any policies let alone Tory ones. Cameor's problem is quite different from that of Scotland. With the FTPT electoral system & 2 big parties it may make tactical sense to try to sieze the "middle ground", we have PR & 4 sizeable parties - the Tories need to get their traditional vote out to be players.


Which will only drive a bigger wedge between the Scottish party and the HQ in London. While the Scottish party will be seen to stand for traditional Tory ideals, the London party is emcompassing the middle ground better than New Labour and is getting the better poll ratings because of it.

It really wouldn't make sense for the Scottish Tories to try and seize the middle ground though - Labour and the Lib Dems already occupy this and to try and do this would most probably wipe out their traditional vote altogether.

So who will act first? Will the Scottish party toe (or be told to toe) the London line and wipe out their traditional vote here, or will they break away from the London party altogether?

I was travelling with a barrister from London in New Zealand for a couple of weeks who served on the Tories board for the South-East (or something like that - I'm not entirely sure how the party is set up.). He told me in no uincertain terms that the party as a whole is now starting to look at Scotland as an irrelevance since they have absolutely no confidence in vote gains for the next General Election.
Aventinian

azzuri wrote:
Which will only drive a bigger wedge between the Scottish party and the HQ in London. While the Scottish party will be seen to stand for traditional Tory ideals, the London party is emcompassing the middle ground better than New Labour and is getting the better poll ratings because of it.


Tory ideals are essentially quite moderate. While the UK party is talking about environmental issues and the like, I don't think it's to the exclusion of their traditional territory and they are ideals the Scottish party would do well to accept (as the successes of the Green Party up here demonstrate) - and I believe they are accepting them.

We can have a moderate Tory party while still differentiating ourselves from Labour and the Liberals.

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So who will act first? Will the Scottish party toe (or be told to toe) the London line and wipe out their traditional vote here, or will they break away from the London party altogether?


I don't think separation from the UK party is remotely on the cards, nor do I think it would settle the issue. The Scottish party is pretty much independent to pursue whatever policies it wants already.

A bit of environmentalism and the like: they're not going to wipe out the traditional Tory vote in Scotland. They're principles a lot of Scottish Tories (particularly the rural vote, which is probably where they do well these days) agree with.

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He told me in no uincertain terms that the party as a whole is now starting to look at Scotland as an irrelevance since they have absolutely no confidence in vote gains for the next General Election.


Might as well write off the North, the working class, women and the Welsh then, they've been told they can't appeal to them.

It certainly doesn't seem to be reflected in the noises Cameron is making now. He's putting himself rather at the forefront of Unionism in the UK.
Neil

The barrister is clearly correct in that a good result for the Tories in Scotland would be 2 MPs & a bad one zero. So long as Westminster has a FPTP electoral system we are going to have such distorted results. In fact only 39% of people voted Labour in Scotland last year compared to 36% in the UK so the idea that Scots are all committed socialists is a myth.

Since the Scots Tories do not add to UK Tory strength & the English link doesn't strenthen the Scots party I think a separation would help both.

Having followed http://www.iaindale.blogspot.com/ , an intelligent Tory site, I have seen a lot of comments from Tory backwoodsmen who look forward to getting shot of Scotland so that England will vote for a government committed to bringing back hanging for EU commissioners etc.
azzuri

Don't shoot the messenger Av.

I'm simply repeating what he told me - someone who is heavily involved with the party and meets monthly with DC to help decide party policy.
Aventinian

"so that England will vote for a government committed to bringing back hanging for EU commissioners etc."

Hmm... I don't think they ever will. All three main parties are pro-Europe and, I imagine, always will be. This is the reason we don't let the masses decide things like this.

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