James Forsyth James Forsyth

How Ruth Davidson plans to become First Minister of Scotland

Ruth Davidson is clear in her interview with Fraser Nelson and me that she won’t be making her mind up about standing for a Westminster seat until after the Scottish Parliament election in 2021. Why does Davidson want to wait until then before making any decision? Because she thinks she can become First Minister of Scotland.

This might seem a bit bizarre, delusional even; the Labour revival in Scotland means that the Tories are sometimes coming third in the polls and it is hard to see what other party would back her for the job. But Davidson is convinced that there is a ‘clear route’ to the Scottish Tories taking power. In a preview of the argument that she wants to use the day after that election, she declares ‘we have got a tradition in Scotland where the largest party gets to have first chance at providing a government and we’ve never seen a deviation from that’.

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