At long last, the Scots Tories are back in business

YOU would have thought all party conferences would be pretty similar. After all, political animals are a universal breed. They obsess over the same things – the economy, taxes, public services – whether of the Left or Right.

But they really are very different. The Scottish Tories, for instance, have a thing for suits. While SNP activists like nothing better than sporting Tshirts, often with Bannockburn slogans, the Conservatives treat their party get-togethers as they would a wedding.

They put on their Sunday best: all of them. There was hardly a pair of jeans or a scruffy shirt to be seen when the Scottish Tories gathered in Glasgow last week.

Partly, this is because of the age profile. The Scottish Conservative Party is, still, older than its rivals; but it is because that is who they are. They certainly don’t want to be middleaged and dress like a teenager. They have standards and most of them don’t want to stand out by doing anything too racy.

While this year’s Scottish Tory spring conference resembled every other one for the past 20 years in this particular respect, it was also quite different. That was because of its size. This conference was big. There were 1,300 people at it. It was as if hundreds of Scottish Tories had emerged, blinking, into the weak sunlight after years in hibernation, ready to face the world again, proud to declare they were Conservatives.

Not only that, the conference was held in Glasgow, for years an absolute no-go area for Tories. Glasgow Tories used to be an endangered species, more pitied than insulted by opponents.

The idea of holding a conference in this most anti-Tory of cities would have been laughable a few years ago.

But here they were, milling around in quietly confident groups in one of the city’s biggest conference venues. It was as if, at last, the Scottish Conservative Party had got its dignity back.

It sent out a simple and powerful message: it was no longer afraid to stand up for what it believed in.

Election observers can point to demographic changes, to swings away from this party or that, but the Tories were united in their belief there was one person and one person alone who has brought them to this point: Ruth Davidson.

With her oddly successful combination of cheery bonhomie and inner steel, she embodies the sense of confidence that now flows through her party.

Taking the conference to Glasgow was a very Davidson move. It not only symbolised growing political strength, it was a deliberate ‘in your face’ gesture to Labour and the SNP. This was a party – and a party leader – saying: ‘We are not only here to stay, we are going to take you on in your back yard; we are not scared of you.’

The choice of venue is a remarkable turnaround for the Tories. This is a party that has been beaten down by years of abysmal poll ratings, electoral disasters and public disdain. But now it is back – and the activists gathered in Glasgow knew it.

THEY carried their heads a little higher. No longer did they feel they had to lie to taxi drivers when they were asked what they were doing. They could arrive in their tweeds, their severe skirts and pearls, and be proud of who they were.

There always used to be a smattering of oddballs at Scottish Tory conferences, eccentrics whose relevance was always exaggerated because there were hardly any other people there.

While there were still such figures milling around, they were outnumbered by the ordinary supporters. For the first time in years, the oddballs were overwhelmed by the sensible suits.

But the new-found confidence does not just flow from recent electoral success, though that is undoubtedly important. It also stems from the belief the party has its own position as the unequivocal defender of the Union.

The activists know a battle is coming and they know they are likely to have to carry the Unionist standard into that fight on their own, without the crutch of Better Together.

But that doesn’t seem to worry them. This is a party that knows what it is, knows what it stands for and knows it has been through the worst.

If this Glasgow conference told us anything, it was that the Scottish Tories are back.