Scottish Conservatives, 1965–2011

You read it here first – four years ago. The Conservative Party looks like it will finally enact its plans to split, and the Scottish Conservatives will dissolve – at least if Murdo Fraser wins the leadership. The Sunday Telegraph has the news tomorrow:

“Murdo Fraser, who is favourite to become leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, will announce that he plans to wind up the party if he wins a ballot of members next month. He would follow disbanding the party by launching a new Right-of-centre party that would contest all Scottish elections — council, Scottish Parliament and Westminster. Mr Fraser, a member of the Scottish Parliament, believes the Conservatives have become a “toxic brand” in Scotland since losing all 11 of their Commons seats in the 1997 Labour landslide.”

I have to agree. When I did my tour of duty in the Scottish Parliament ten years ago, the Tory MSPs joked they’d rename themselves “the effing Tories” because that’s how they were known. The sad truth is that even then, it was out of date. People have stopped even hating the Tories in Scotland – it’s more pity now. Voting Scottish Tory is no longer seen as a giant evil, but as a harmless perversion – like cross-dressing or cricket. I know people who are avid Tories in London but vote SNP in Scotland – despairing at the utter uselessness of the party in Scotland.

What Cameron will make of this plan I don’t know. Francis Maude was up for it last time, but some of the Scottish Tory peers were dead against. I’m not sure why. Until 1965 the Scottish Tories were called the Unionist Party, and voted in a block with the Tories. Their relationship was roughly similar to that between the German CDU and the Bavarian CSU. That kind of relationship makes sense to me. Scottish Conservative has, alas, become an oxymoron. Murdo Fraser is right: it’s time to start again.