Memo to the PM... You’d be daft not to give Ruth a seat at the Cabinet table
ASK any serious Conservative who they would most like to see take over from fatally wounded Theresa May as Prime Minister and talk soon turns to the leader of the party in Scotland. In an ideal world, they say, the next PM would be Ruth Davidson. If only, they add, she was not an MSP, she would be unstoppable.
I’m inclined to agree: were Miss Davidson an MP she would be Prime Minister within weeks, leaving the likes of Boris Johnson and Amber Rudd in the dust.
If she wanted to be an MP, that could be arranged. If a by-election popped up anywhere in the UK, Miss Davidson could breeze into the Conservative candidacy.
She is, after an astonishing General Election in Scotland in which she boosted Tory numbers from one MP to 13, her party’s most successful and most popular politician. The former BBC Radio Scotland journalist has transformed her party’s fortunes north of the Border.
Last weekend, while Mrs May hid away in Downing Street try- ing to make sense of an election she called to strengthen her party at Westminster but which ended with the Tories unable to form a majority, it was Miss Davidson who took control. She gave media interviews in which she pushed her preferred option of a ‘soft’ Brexit.
The Scottish Tory leader – a key Remain campaigner ahead of last June’s EU referendum – looked like the only elected Conservative with any idea what she was doing.
The Scottish Conservatives have had impressive leaders in the past. Both the late David McLetchie and the now ennobled Annabel Goldie were fine debaters with quick wits, but neither had anywhere near the levels of popularity Miss Davidson enjoys. Time was that leadership of the Scottish Tories was an exercise in managed decline. Miss Davidson has changed all of that.
Now they are on the up – Miss Davidson doubled the size of the Tory group in last year’s Holyrood election to make it the largest opposition party. The General Election result confirms that success was no blip.
But for the foreseeable future, Miss Davidson has no desire to head south to Westminster. Tory grandees may fantasise all they wish about her becoming Prime Minister but it is, right now, a fantasy.
This is not to say, however, that there is not a UK-wide role for her. Mrs May – and whoever succeeds her when she is inevitably removed – should not squander this great natural resource.
Use her skills as a communicator. A savvy PM would invite Miss Davidson to become a minister without portfolio in the UK Cabinet.
Some years back, when then Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair was under pressure, John Reid was appointed the unofficial ‘Minister for Newsnight’. Whatever the issue, he was on TV or radio, confidently advancing the Government’s position.
Miss Davidson could perform a similar, valuable role for the Conservatives. Her voter appeal does not stop at Gretna. It would be foolish not to fully exploit this.
Miss Davidson, by correctly reading the mood of the majority of Scots, has played a central role in derailing First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s plans for a second bite of the constitutional cherry. Despite failing to rule out another independence referendum, the First Minister would be a fool to try to proceed with it. Mrs May began the General Election campaign with a reputation for competence and limped to the end, exposed as a stiff and disconnected leader. She may be in office but she is not now in power. As confidence in the Government evaporates, the Tories could do with the unifying and stabilising figure of Miss Davidson.
The Scottish Tory leader and those closest to her are adamant that she has no intention of abandoning her job in Scotland. Having run last year’s campaign on the message that the Tories would provide strong opposition to the SNP, Miss Davidson will ask voters in 2021 to make her First Minister.
THAT idea might seem preposterous but it once seemed preposterous that the Conservatives might overtake Labour to become to second largest party in Scotland. It once seemed preposterous that Tory candidates might defeat SNP big beasts such as Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson. The Tories could do with more Ruth Davidsons. She is a social liberal with healthy disdain for the ageing rightwingers and Eurosceptics who have often dragged the Tories off course. It is not only the Conservative Party that would gain from a more substantial role for Miss Davidson – the United Kingdom would, too. The SNP’s relentless narrative is that Scotland is ignored and exploited by Westminster. That charge would not carry the same weight if the Tories could point to Miss Davidson playing a key role, perhaps in ensuring the development of devolution while bringing her influence to bear across the entire Tory agenda. It would take a confident (or desperate) Prime Minister to give Miss Davidson a high-profile role. Mrs May certainly fits the latter description and she should reach out to the Scottish Tory leader for help. Mrs May’s successor should have the confidence to put Miss Davidson at the heart of all the Conservatives do. The UK continues to go through a period of political turmoil. No party can be confident of much. This, then, is Miss Davidson’s moment. Those of us who have followed her political career have always thought she had the potential to operate at the highest level. Today, she is the most influential Conservative in UK. I‘ t’s time for her to use the power she has earned.
It would be foolish not to exploit her voter appealthe