Ruth Davidson’s departure would mean the end of the Scottish Conservatives

Ruth Davidson is set to quit as Scottish Conservative leader. A party source is quoted in the Scottish Sun saying Davidson’s departure will be as a result of the ‘huge pressure’ of new motherhood — she gave birth to a son, Finn, last October — and finding herself ‘at increasing odds with the new leadership in London’.

What can we take from this? Twinning her objections to no-deal Brexit with the toll of mothering while in a high-pressured job dilutes her resignation as a protest against the course Number 10 has chosen today. And Davidson has been in politics (and before that journalism) long enough to know that. So this is less of a calculated strop and more of a moment of personal and political reckoning: family and personal health can be juggled with a demanding role, but is it really worth it when your party has strayed so far from the path you believe in? Davidson has evidently decided it’s not.