Alex Massie Alex Massie

Gauging the Palin Effect

American readers may consider themselves fortunate that they have no idea who Tavish Scott is. English readers may do likewise. For that matter, so may many Scots. Nonetheless, Mr Scott, the new leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (titter ye not) did provide one public service at his party’s UK conference last week. He demonstrated the extent to which the Sarah Palin phenomenon has rippled across the world. In a speech watched by dozens, he told party delegates that if Scottish politics were American politics:

you would observe that the only difference between Alex Salmond* and Annabel Goldie** is lipstick

What a wag.

*SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland

**Leader of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist party. The SNP relied upon Tory support to pass their budget. Hence Labour and the Lib Dems are reviving the “Tartan Tories” moniker, hoping that this may derail the nationalist bandwagon. More on this later.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in