Reform UK are on manoeuvres in Scotland. Mr S can reveal today that not only did Nigel Farage’s party poach former Tory councillor Ross Lambie last month, now the right-wingers will rub salt in Conservative wounds by standing him in the Scottish constituency of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse in the June by-election – after incumbent SNP MSP Christina McKelvie sadly passed away in March.
Lambie, of South Lanarkshire Council, defected from Russell Findlay’s Scottish Tories at the beginning of March after blaming ‘legacy parties’ like the Conservatives, Labour and the SNP letting down voters ‘again and again’ – and he has since proclaimed on social media that ‘only Reform UK can drain the bog of Holyrood’. Lambie is one of the latest to jump ship to the Farage-founded group, accompanying Renfrewshire Council’s John Gray, an ex-Conservative whose defection was announced on the same day, and – as Steerpike revealed earlier this year – the Scottish Conservative’s leader on Glasgow City Council, Thomas Kerr.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in