EITHER Ruth Davidson's not the draw she once was, or the Tory party's big money donors are feeling the pinch.
Last year, at the party's exclusive Black and White fundraising ball, lunch with the Scots leader sold for a gobsmacking £20,000.
But on Wednesday night the prospect of a two day stay in Edinburgh with Davidson, and the promise of a walk of her dog, Wilson, only managed to secure a more modest £3,600, a drop of 82%.
The highest bidder was someone named Nick True.
Last year Davidson was won by Lubov Chernukhin, a Russian donor who has given the Tories hundreds of thousands in recent years.
READ MORE: Dog walking with Ruth Davidson one of the prizes at Tory ball
Chernukhin’s husband, Vladimir, was Putin’s deputy finance minister and then chairman of a state-controlled bank.
It’s understood that Chernukhin and Davidson have not yet had lunch and there is currently no date in the party leader’s diary for the two to get together.
The MSP, who gave birth to a wee boy in October, is currently on maternity leave and is expected to return to Holyrood in May. She wasn’t at the ball at the Battersea Evolution venue in south London.
According to the Evening Standard’s diary column, other auction prizes included the chance to win dinner with Environment Secretary Michael Gove and his wife Sarah Vine at their home, and an exclusive “British Cheese Tasting” session with Chief Secretary for the Treasury Liz Truss.
There was also a chance to win lunch at the Ivy with George Osborne, which had a reserve price of £6,000, a private cinema experience with Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, and dinner at London’s ‘Travellers Club’ with Liam Fox.
The auction was presented by actor Wynne Evans, best known for his role as Gio Compario, the opera singer in the Go Compare adverts.
Cabinet ministers in attendance included Gove, Rudd, the Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay, the Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, and the health secretary Matt Hancock.
Some of the party’s celebrity supporters were there too, including Joan Collins and I’m A Celebrity winner Georgia Toffolo.
Theresa May stopped over in between Brexit talks in Belfast and Brussels.
An SNP spokesman said:"Ruth's stock appears to be plummeting among Tory grandees."
Ian Lavery, the chair of the Labour Party, said: “It’s unbelievable that rather focusing on sorting out the mess she and her party have made of Brexit, the prime minister appears to have jetted back to spend a lavish evening with super rich donors."
He continued: “Tory ministers live on a different planet. While they are busy hobnobbing with super rich donors at a lavish party, our public services are in crisis, people’s pay is being squeezed and councils are at breaking point.”
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