I cried when the new gay marriage law was passed. It was so emotional. Maybe one day I will use it myself
Scots Tory leader on love, the PM and sharing a make-up mirror with Nicola Sturgeon
SHE was the unexpected star of last week’s election debates. Bullish and outspoken, Ruth Davidson told TV viewers – in no uncertain terms – that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP do not hold the monopoly on passion in Scottish politics.
Yet her on-screen victory will come as little surprise to those who know the remarkable background of a woman who has become one of the brightest stars of her party – and the selfappointed scourge of the Nats.
Openly gay and unashamedly Christian, she hails from a modest background – and counts herself lucky to be alive. Not only was she knocked down by a truck when she was a child, she broke her neck as a young woman when she jumped through a window during a botched training exercise at Sandhurst.
Now, in the most candid interview of her career, the 36-year-old has spoken of her mission to wipe out the image of a stuffy, elitist, ‘blue-blood’ Tory party and appeal to voters from all walks of life.
During a break from electioneering, Miss Davidson revealed she enjoys gossiping with Nicola Sturgeon while they put on make-up together ahead of debates – even though it is her mission to stop the SNP leader breaking up Britain.
One of the most high-profile gay politicians in the country, she spoke candidly for the first time about her love for her girlfriend – and even hinted that marriage may one day be on the cards.
She also described how her military training, despite nearly claiming her life, has made her unafraid to speak bluntly – even to David Cameron. She said: ‘I’m not afraid to tell someone if they are stepping on my toes. If the Prime Minister tried to run the Tory party in Scotland he’d get told: that’s my job. I’m not one for dancing round people’s sensibilities.’
Despite her tough talking, she still enjoys the company of her political rivals – even the First Minister. She said: ‘Sometimes Nicola and I have to share a makeup space or a dressing room. It’s fine and it’s a bit of fun.
‘We both know we are there to do a job and we are both grown-ups who were raised properly by our mammies, so are polite and nice to one another. Sometimes we will say, “Oh, did you see that last night?” – and have a bit of a gossip.
‘Nicola and I disagree on almost everything but I respect her abilities and I would hope she respects any that she sees in me.
‘There is no merit in denying that she is accomplished, confident and clever, I just happen to believe she is wrong. And I want people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to know that she does not talk for Scotland. We voted to stay in the United Kingdom.’
One of the proudest moments in her career will always be voting to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland.
She said: ‘I cried when the Bill was passed – it really took me by surprise how overcome I was with emotion.
‘It touched me very deeply and it meant a lot to me. It is something I will always be tremendously proud of, that I was part of a group of people who made it happen. Maybe one day I will even take advantage of the new laws.’
Miss Davidson who lives in Glasgow, has been dating environmental charity worker Jen Wilson, 33, for just over a year. She said: ‘I was single for about a year and I thought it would be very hard to date again as the leader of the Tory party in Scotland – it’s not like you can go on a dating website or anything like that.
‘And then my partner Jen, who I first met around eight years ago through friends, came back to Scotland after being overseas. We caught up by chance and it was lovely.
‘We get on really well and are easy in each other’s company. She is very supportive, but I know when she tells me, “Ruth, it’s time you put your phone away and come off Twitter,” I have to do it.
‘I try to cook as much as I can – particularly hearty food like casseroles – but she is the tidy one.
‘We like to go for drinks together, to go to the cinema and we play a bit of
‘I’m not afraid of David Cameron’
sport – my job just means we don’t do it as often as we’d like.’
Even when the couple try to remove themselves from the world of politics, Miss Davidson’s job has a habit of catching up on them – at the most awkward of moments.
She said: ‘We took a week off in the October break – when parliament was in recess – and went to Lanzarote on a cheap-and-cheerful deal. But on the first day I was lying on a sun-lounger when a Scottish guy came over to me and asked me – since it was a Thursday – why I wasn’t at First Minister’s Questions. We then had a conversation about politics – while I quickly pulled up my towel to hide my white bits.’
Although she is determined not to focus on her sexuality, she acknowledges it plays an important part in her thinking. She chose to feature her girlfriend in her latest election broadcast in an attempt to dispel old-fashioned views about her party.
She said: ‘I think I was in my mid-20s when I came out. I wasn’t out at school or university. I don’t think anyone was openly gay at my school. I think everybody who is gay thinks a lot about how it will affect their family and friends. I think things are changing and it’s easier for young people now and I hope it will continue to get easier.
‘My job is to fight for Conservative and Unionist values and state our case as best we can and if, as I am doing this, I can make things a bit easier for people coming through behind me, I will do that. That is one of the main reasons I made a party election broadcast with Jen and my parents in it.
‘For me, the interesting part was not me and Jen in the pub with a glass of wine, it was when we were with my mum and dad and we all had our arms around each other. I think for young people growing up that is the most important image.
‘I made a promise to myself when
I started running for election I wouldn’t be Joan of Arc about it, but my sexuality was not something I was prepared to lie about or hide. I would like to think it doesn’t make a difference. I never thought it mattered, whether I was leading the Conservative Party in Scotland or not.’
Raised in Lundin Links in Fife, she attended the local state primary and secondary schools. She took a parttime job as a kitchen porter at 12 and boasts she was the first girl ever to be selected for the local boys’ under-14 football team.
Her Conservative values came from the ‘moral compass’ instilled in her by her father Douglas, a former professional footballer who also worked in the whisky industry, and her mother Liz, who ‘dealt with the day-to-day stuff in the house’.
She said: ‘I was always taught that hard work should be rewarded. It doesn’t matter where you are from, it is what you do that counts.
‘My mum used to say, “Remember you are better than nobody and nobody is better than you”.’
As well as shaping her political philosophy, her early years also taught her hard lessons about determination and fortitude.
At the age of five she was hit by a lorry near her home – which forced her to spend weeks in hospital in a full body cast. She said: ‘I broke my leg, shattered my pelvis and my femoral artery was crushed. My parents were told there was a 50 per cent chance I wouldn’t make it and an even higher chance I would lose my leg.
‘I was a young child but I will always remember the kindness of strangers. I still had a full body cast when I was discharged from hospital – but a man read about my accident in the local paper and sent us an old World War One spinal carriage so my mum could take me outside for fresh air. It was a tough recovery – I was the only kid with a Zimmer frame in the playground.’
Miss Davidson describes herself as a Christian who struggles to attend church regularly.
After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an English literature degree, she worked for a local newspaper before joining the BBC for nearly a decade.
Covering the war in Kosovo prompted her to sign up for the Territorial Army. She said: ‘I was a signaller and it was the making of me. I never saw active duty overseas, but I did the officer training in Scotland and then the real exams at Sandhurst – which is where I badly injured myself.
‘For the physical courage test we had to jump through a glass window and I volunteered to go first, as I do, but the sandpit behind the window had frozen solid. I landed awkwardly on my neck and cracked vertebrae. I spent almost two weeks in hospital and had to wear a back brace.’
She joined the Tories in 2009, after being rallied by David Cameron’s call for people who had never been political before to get involved.
She quickly rose through the ranks and after two unsuccessful attempts to become an MP in Glasgow Kelvin she was elected as a list MSP for Glasgow in the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election. Six months later, she was elected leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland at 33.
Ahead of last week’s TV debates, many viewers in England and Wales would naturally have assumed Nicola Sturgeon was the most powerful and impressive figure in Scottish politics.
Miss Davidson may have changed their minds.