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macnumpty

Tory hopeful calls for new leader

It just gets better and better: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6274029.stm

Quote:
A Conservative candidate at the Holyrood election has called for a change of party leader in Scotland.

The challenge to Annabel Goldie's authority came as the party's UK leader David Cameron arrived in Scotland to boost the election effort.

Holyrood candidate Peter Lyburn believes that the Tories need rejuvenated north of the border.

However, Ms Goldie - who was elected Scottish leader in November 2005 - has dismissed his criticism.

Her appointment followed the resignation of previous Scottish leader David McLetchie.

Speaking of her appointment at the time, she said: "The wheels are back on the wagon - and I'm the nag hitched up to tow it."

Mr Lyburn, official Conservative candidate for Dunfermline West, said someone with a younger vision was needed in the top job.

"I'm not being overly controversial in stating that what the party needs is a rejuvenation in leadership - somebody with a slightly more youthful attitude towards politics," he said.

"It would be wrong for me to throw my hat into the ring before I'm even elected, but I think we've got a large selection of people that are possible candidates."

Ms Goldie played down Mr Lyburn's comments.

She said: "He's entitled to his opinion, but I know I am supported by the great majority of my party."

'No ambition'

David Cameron and his Westminster shadow cabinet travelled to Scotland to boost the Conservative Party's profile on Thursday.

Rival parties have fired opening salvoes ahead of the visit.

SNP campaign director Angus Robertson MP said: "The Tories' performance in Scotland has gone from abysmal to embarrassing under David Cameron.

"In the first three Scottish polls of the year, they are on 13% average support in the constituency vote, putting them in fourth place behind the Lib Dems."

Malcolm Bruce, chairman of the Scottish Liberal Democrat election campaign, said: "This is the shadow cabinet visiting the party that lives in the shadows.

"The Scottish Tories have no ambition, no policies that they will implement in government, and nothing to say."
Aventinian

A non-entity candidate (not even out of university and in a seat where he has no chance of winning, at least according to my old flatmate who was from Dumfermline) makes a statement and suddenly it's influential?
Avatar

Hes still at uni? I wonder how he would manage to juggle the workload..
macnumpty

Well, it seems newsworthy enough to be picked up by the media. I think you're right about his prospects, but when someone in so weak a position can say that he (or someone like him) would do a better job than Goldie, it does highlight the inexplicably weak position that the Party finds itself in.

The fact that it's got out there and Goldie has failed to deal with it effectively does actually prove his point: she seems to be less influential than he is, and it seems that we mostly see Goldie's name in the papers now in reports concerning who's challenging her or the Party 'establishment'.

For me, this isn't about Peter Lyburn: it's all about Annabel Goldie, and how there appears to be a queue forming within the Tories to criticise her. Maybe it's just a minority, but it's a very vocal minority, and she just can't deal with them. That in turn is only causing the criticism to increase and intensify.
macnumpty

Avatar wrote:
Hes still at uni? I wonder how he would manage to juggle the workload..


He's the Tory candidate in Dunfermline! What workload? Laughing
Reluctant Hero

Quote:
For me, this isn't about Peter Lyburn: it's all about Annabel Goldie, and how there appears to be a queue forming within the Tories to criticise her.


I think this is exactly right, but the problem for the Tories is that there isn't anyone of sufficient calibre to make a leader.
Avatar

I read today - a bit of rumor and hearsay- that Lyburn met with Murdo Fraser in a resteraunt/cafe not long before he made his statement/comment.
Scott2006

I prefer the Tories to be as near to leaderless as possible, and that is what they have with A. Goldie at the helm.

Nothing she has done, or is within her powers to do, will significantly increase support for the flat-lining Scottish Conservatives. They hover around 14% support with a +/- 5% fluctuation over the last few years.

What happened to the other 14% or so that the Conservatives used to poll in the 1980's? Were they really all from the war-time generation that remembered Winston Churchill and saw the Tories as a bulwark against state sponsored socialism? The Tories must have the oldest profile of any political party membership outside of the OAP Party.

What half decent policies have the Tories promoted in Scotland since devolution that New Labour have failed to steal/adopt or present as their own? What sets them apart? Are they only a seemingly autonomous branch office of British Conservative PLC?

The Conservatives might increase their number of councillors under the new electoral rules - whether this will save Goldie from having to fall on her sword for the greater good of the party is a matter for the back-room boys and girls in Leith and further afield.

Being leader of the Scottish Conservatives in a devolved Scotland is a poisoned chalice for any of the contenders that might want the job. No standard Westminster-friendly policies will restore the Conservatives to the amount of support they used to enjoy.

If i've missed a chance to use a hackneyed metaphor please forgive me Wink
Aventinian

Avatar wrote:
I read today - a bit of rumor and hearsay- that Lyburn met with Murdo Fraser in a resteraunt/cafe not long before he made his statement/comment.


Oooh... conspiracy!

Admittedly I think Murdo might well become leader some day.

Scott2006 wrote:
What happened to the other 14% or so that the Conservatives used to poll in the 1980's? Were they really all from the war-time generation that remembered Winston Churchill and saw the Tories as a bulwark against state sponsored socialism? The Tories must have the oldest profile of any political party membership outside of the OAP Party.


I don't think so - they're the biggest political party on Scottish university campuses still, I believe.

Quote:
What half decent policies have the Tories promoted in Scotland since devolution that New Labour have failed to steal/adopt or present as their own? What sets them apart? Are they only a seemingly autonomous branch office of British Conservative PLC?

The Conservatives might increase their number of councillors under the new electoral rules - whether this will save Goldie from having to fall on her sword for the greater good of the party is a matter for the back-room boys and girls in Leith and further afield.


The Tories, unlike other parties, have some semblance of an ideology within them. I don't think they need worry quite so much about policies as such: everyone knows what they stand for.

The renewal of the Tories is moving at a UK Parliament pace though - Cameron has gone within the party and is trying to fix it up without making too much impact on the surface. This is all right for now, with the General Election still two years away, but in Scotland elections are an immediate concern.
Avatar

Quote:
Admittedly I think Murdo might well become leader some day.


possibly sooner than we might think.
Aventinian

Avatar wrote:
possibly sooner than we might think.


I don't know how anyone could go against Goldie though - she's like a kindly old auntie who bakes you cakes.
Economist

Aventinian wrote:
I don't know how anyone could go against Goldie though - she's like a kindly old auntie who bakes you cakes.


She is, and I'm sure she's lovely in real life too. The problem is she's probably much better at baking cakes (and much more suited to doing that) than she is leading the Tories, let alone leading Scotland. She's no Wendy Alexander. (I'll leave that up to you to determine whether that is an insult or a compliment Laughing )

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