Someone needs to tell Tom Harris MP that the “Unionist” in the “Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party” referred to the Union with Ireland, not that between Scotland and England.
Equally, the fact that the Conservatives (in London) and the SNP (in Edinburgh) sometimes seem to be reciting similar talking points should scarcely come as any great surprise: the Labour party is their common enemy. True, the Conservatives oppose the Nationalists north of the border but as far as the UK party is concerned that’s a secondary front and one, more particularly, on which there’s little need for a fresh offensive this year.
If, as Alan Cochrane hints, the Scottish Tories have dropped “Unionist” from their name then fine, even if they might actually be better off dropping the “Conservative” bit. That remains a tainted, even toxic, brand in Scotland – not least because the electorate doesn’t care that the Tories have spent the past decade on their knees begging forgiveness for their supposed sins.
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