Davidson: ‘I’m 100 per cent committed, but job is No 2’
● Returning to the fray, Scottish Tory leader says son Finn is top priority
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has declared her newborn son is her “top priority” as she prepares to return from maternity leave this week.
Although she has pledged to give her job “100 per cent”, Ms Davidson acknowledged the role was “now very much secondary to Finn” as she again ruled herself out of the race to replace Prime Minister Theresa May.
And Ms Davidson aimed a stinging attack at Nicola Sturgeon, warning Scots had lost trust in the First Minister.
The Scottish Tory leader said she had “plenty to aim at” when she returns to work on Thursday, ahead of her party’s conference in Aberdeen next weekend. Her deputy, Jackson Carlaw, has been leading the party in her absence.
Ms Davidson, who has been on maternity leave since giving birth to son Finn in October, said she believed Scots were seeking unity and pledged to address domestic issues including health, education and police.
She told a national newspaper: “Having been out of the fray for six months, my overwhelming feeling from everyone I’ve been speaking to is they want people to come back together. They’re done with the fighting, they don’t want the division.
“There’s a lot of currency for a first minister who could be a unifying figure. Nicola Sturgeon banging on about independence is not it.”
Ms Sturgeon last week told MSPS there should be a second independence referendum before the next Holyrood election in May 2021.
Ms Davidson said in the interview: “People can see schools are struggling, they can see the strains the NHS is under, they can see some of the issues going on with the police force.
“One of the reasons she [Sturgeon] is hitting the independence drum so hard is she doesn’t have a domestic record worth talking about. It’s as simple as that.
“There’s a job for me to
0 Ruth Davidson returns to work this week ahead of her party’s conference next weekend in Aberdeen
do when I do come back on Thursday. There is plenty to aim at.”
On Brexit, Ms Davidson said there “needs to be coalescence around a position from everybody – Remainers, Leavers, No Dealers, and Norway Plusers”.
Addressing motherhood, Ms Davidson, mother to Finn with fiancée Jen Wilson, admitted she had been “bone-crushingly sleep deprived” and said she dreads leaving her son to return to work.
But she said: “I always planned to take six months off, and I could’ve done with another few weeks, but there
was never any suggestion that I would not be returning to do something I really enjoy a lot.
“I will still give the job 100 per cent.” Ms Davidson added: “It’s just number two on my priority list now.”