New PM must repair link with the Scottish Tories and stop nasty spats aiding the Nats
AS Conservative MPs wrestle with an everexpanding field of candidates for the party leadership, their colleagues north of the Border are noticeably more relaxed than they were this time three years ago.
Back then, facing the prospect of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, the Scottish tories launched an anti-BoJo operation with a codename I can’t use in the Scottish Daily Mail but which rhymes with ‘farce’. Appropriately enough: their preferred candidate, Sajid Javid, was left holding up the rear in the fourth ballot before being eliminated.
No such anxieties this time. Asked about the party’s favourite among the current contenders, a well-placed source told me: ‘Ben [Wallace] was certainly someone we could have got on board with. Penny [Mordaunt] has a lot of good attributes. Rishi [Sunak] has some strong points. there’s no Boris Johnson in this race for us. there’s no one we think would make things really tricky. No one who would make things hard for us.’
I’m told there are currently no plans for the party or Douglas Ross personally to endorse a candidate. the relief to be rid of Johnson – soon – is palpable.
It is no secret that relations between the Holyrood and Westminster parties soured on his watch.
Whoever wins the leadership contest will have to work at restoring that relationship. For the most part, this will involve resetting to the status quo ante Boris. Scottish party insiders identify the PM himself, rather than the Government, as the source of the problem.
Improvement
Nonetheless, there is obvious room for improvement. A common complaint I hear is about the lack of a joined-up approach in communications, strategy and messaging. A monthly, scheduled call between the Prime Minister and the Scottish tory leader would provide a forum for exchanging ideas, briefing on strategy and holding the sort of candid conversations that can head off problems early on.
Greater co-ordination between Number 10, the Scotland Office and the Scottish leader’s office would aid clear and consistent messaging. talking points prepared for ministers ahead of Scotland visits should always be drawn up in consultation with the Holyrood group.
the Scottish tories are eager to see more ministerial visits to Scotland, with one source telling me they should be ‘routine’. While I agree, I would add that ministers dearly need to stop behaving like foreign dignitaries when visiting Scotland, posing with giant fish and bottles of whisky as though for twee holiday snaps.
If you are a minister of the Crown, whether in devolved or reserved areas, you are one of Scotland’s ministers. Act like it. When you come here, it should be to announce a new policy or unveil a fresh pot of money. Given the treasury’s willingness to spend directly in Scotland, ministerial visits should reflect this, even and especially where this spending involves devolved matters.
As these suggestions show, much of the repair work is dry and technical. Some of it is about tone and ministerial comportment. Never again should a minister be allowed, as Jacob Rees-Mogg was, to go on Newsnight and trash the leader of the Scottish tories in the sneery tones of a public schoolboy casting aspersions on a pupil from the local comprehensive.
It is difficult to believe Rees-Mogg was unaware of just how poorly his ‘lightweight’ jab at Douglas Ross would play in Scotland. He is no political ingenue and certainly no stranger to television interviews. His remarks not only damaged Ross ahead of the local elections, they handed Nicola Sturgeon ammunition.
She argued they were ‘not just personal insults’ but reflected the Westminster establishment’s ‘contempt for Scotland’.
Sturgeon is a demagogue who will find any excuse to push independence, but Rees-Mogg gave her one for free. Anyone who hopes to be the next tory prime minister should be thinking about how to prevent a repeat of this incident.
While the tories should not seek to emulate the wheesht-for-indy culture inside the SNP that sees its MPs banned from criticising each other, even the most senior ministers at Westminster should be told to mind their language, be respectful towards colleagues and avoid handing opponents anywhere in the UK a stick with which to beat the party or prominent party office-holders. Loose lips sink ships and tory spats help Nats.
Another consideration is the selection of Secretary of State for Scotland. Alister Jack, who has held the post for three years now, is a Boris loyalist. He stood by him until the bitter end and while it is not what I would have done, there is something to be said for backing the boss when there’s nothing in it for you.
What this means for Jack’s future isn’t certain. the next Prime Minister may deem him too closely tied to Johnson and the ignominious end of his premiership.
Alternatively, the next occupant of Number 10 may want to retain a safe pair of hands who understands how the Scotland Office works – and how the SNP operates. Since we don’t know who will replace Boris, there’s no way of knowing what will happen, though John Lamont’s name has been put to me as a potential successor to Jack.
Jack was and remains a true-believing Brexiteer. I was sceptical of his appointment at first because his background was in business rather than political fixing. However, his tenure has vindicated the trust Boris put in him. He has made the UK Government more visible and more visibly active in Scotland.
While polite and collegial, he has spurned that tendency of many of his predecessors to tug a forelock to the Scottish political establishment. He has the distinction, rare among recent holders of the office, of being a Scottish Secretary who did not preside over the devolution of yet more powers to Holyrood.
Champions
In fact, he can lay claim to being the first of the devolved era to have reserved powers, via the Internal Market Act, that would otherwise have gone to the SNP. As someone who previously argued for Westminster to spend directly in Scotland, I can attest that Jack was one of the most reliable champions of what is now UK Government policy.
Whether or not he keeps the office, Jack has set an example that future holders of the job would do well to learn from. Be firm. Be unapologetically for the Union. Be clear Scotland has two governments and Westminster is the primary one.
Don’t jump to every demand from the devocrat establishment, be that Holyrood, civil society or the media. Above all, resist and reject the logic of salami slice Unionism: devolving more powers does not stave off independence, it makes it more appealing by weakening the Union.
the new Prime Minister will urgently need a strategy on Scotland, one that addresses the devolution settlement flaws and offers Scottish voters an alternative to managed decline of the Union.
the Scottish Conservative Party, in its current incarnation, is a creature of devolution and, naturally, very conservativeminded about reforming an institution that has given them a modest platform.
Boris Johnson once branded devolution a ‘disaster’, which scandalised the Scottish tories. His assessment wasn’t wrong but it was a needless provocation without a plan to reform devolution and repair the damage it has done to the Union.
His successor will have to devise such a plan, one that confronts and remedies the flaws of devolution while showing respect to the Scottish tories, who will be, in the tradition of conservatism, resistant to change.