Scottish Tories won’t get any help, so they need to build their own victory, writes Paris Gourtsoyannis

Instead, it was Andrew Bowie MP, Nosheena Mobarik MEP, and Donald Cameron MSP who held the floor, and both Bowie and Mobarik delivered uncompromising messages on the need for internal reform if the Tories want to

win at any level. Mobarik was particularly impressive for telling a room for of white blokes in sharp suits that too many Tory candidates were white blokes in sharp suits – particularly in Scotland.

The other issue is policy. Davidson keeps reminding Tories that they need a positive message, one that can compete with Corbyn’s promises to young people and goes beyond the divides over Brexit.

Yet despite all the reminders, her party has yet to come up with its own message that goes beyond Unionism and opposition to indyref2.

Cameron is in charge of developing the party’s platform, but that exercise seems to only just be getting under way from the response he gave to a question about whether Scotland could follow a new proposal from Theresa May to tax foreign property buyers more.

He appeared unsure, and the matter had to be referred up to the shadow finance secretary, Murdo Fraser, who duly said

the party would look at it. Well, why hadn’t they already? Scotland’s house prices are scarcely any less inflated in places like Edinburgh and Glasgow, and second home ownership strikes a chord with communities in rural areas and heavilytouristed cities.

Davidson is not a details person; she would admit this privately, I’m sure. She is a saleswoman, and she needs a big, bold pitch to sell when 2021 rolls around. Tories in Birmingham have been grumbling that Corbyn stole their majority last year by promising young people “the moon on a stick” – free tuition and nationalised services.

The Scottish Tories should know to grumble less and work out their own offer: in 2007, Alex Salmond pulled the same trick, promising free university tuition and an end to prescription charges. They won’t get much help from London, so the Tories will have to do the hard work to impose themselves on Scotland.