The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
A test of guile for Ruth Davidson
Moderate is a dirty word in today’s politics – not just in the UK, but across the world views previously derided and kept on the fringes for being unworkable and in some cases dangerous are now mainstream. In a disposable society, long-term, difficult decisions are giving way to sound bites masquerading as honest politics.
No spin, just easy solutions that don’t necessarily chime with those being offered to your neighbour.
Cracked your mobile phone screen? Don’t worry, you can upgrade and get a whole new handset soon enough.
The world isn’t working for you? Jeremy, or independence, or Brexit can be sold as a quick fix for your troubles.
This, quite neatly, brings us to Birmingham and the Conservative Party Conference.
This famously multicultural city voted by a whisker to leave the European Union – 50.5% to 49.5%, to be exact.
So where better to find out what Brexit means?
If that can be answered with anything other than the repetition of a noun, there might even be an indication of the future direction of the Tories.
Theresa May could not have been more clear in her pitch to the centre ground, in rhetoric at least.
She made her maiden conference speech as Prime Minister in front of the words: “A country that works for everyone.”
The fact the first four speakers blocked out the phrase was an unfortunate piece of camera work.
Such sentiment is laudable, but it will take the strongest of wills and the deepest of convictions to keep to the middle of the road.
Now that Labour has veered to the left under Jeremy Corbyn and looks, at least just now, to have about as much chance of forming a government as The Courier’s staff would if we formed a party, there are Tories who worry about their party drifting towards the crash barrier on the right-hand lane.
The theory goes something like this: when the opposition looks electable, the government must put up popular candidates who can challenge them on the issues that affect most voters.
If the opponent is a no-hoper, however, the opportunity exists for party members to select someone more ideologically “pure”. Their eye may even swivel slightly.
Such scenarios will set alarm bells ringing for Ruth Davidson, who made great success of being an “effective opposition”, but now it is time to set out policy objectives.
This started with lots of interesting talk about helping those most in need, in particular through a crisis family fund, a network of family hubs and the establishment of “turnaround zones” in the most deprived parts of the country.
All very good for cosy conservatism, something much of Scotland is partial to when it comes with a small c, but if the warm words give way to the cold reality of hard Brexit, the Scottish Tory leader will increasingly find herself boxed into a corner by opponents at Holyrood.
She is a capable debater and has proven to be a smart strategist who is able both to connect with the public and to read its mood.
These skills will be tested to breaking point if her UK cabinet colleagues – in particular the troublesome trio of Johnson, Fox and David Davis – do something daft that wobbles the economy.
Mud sticks, whether you jumped in the puddle or not. Ruth Davidson will have to work hard to keep herself clean if she wants to maintain her recent electoral success.