The National:

IF there’s one thing you don’t want to see on the day your political party’s conference starts, it’s polling showing you at lows not seen since the dismal Liz Truss was in charge.

Unfortunately for the Scottish Conservatives, that’s exactly what they woke up to this morning.

As literally dozens of Tories descend on Aberdeen for the less-than-two-day event, Scotland’s political journalists are noticing just how quiet it all is.

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Firstly, there have been whispers among the media-types about the length of the conference. It has started today, and Scots Tory leader Douglas Ross’s “keynote speech” is scheduled for Saturday morning.

The leader’s speech would ordinarily close such events, and this one looks to be no different. But is a conference that is set to last around 28 hours not quite embarrassing?

Further, some readers may have been to an SNP conference in the same venue: the P+J Live event space in Aberdeen. If you have, you’ll remember the main hall where party leaders give their speeches (like below).

The National:

There’s one thing clear from the Scottish Tories’ conference so far: they are not using the same hall.

Instead, Scots Tory MSP Roz McCall shared an image of the stage and some of the seating. There are six rows of 18 seats, so we can comfortably assume there will be at least 108 people attending. Hardly a big turnout.

McCall’s bosses might not be best pleased with her sharing that. Ross’s own image only showed the stage. Smart.

But – again unfortunately for the Scottish Tories – they are not the only ones there. There are political journalists as well.

The Herald’s Tom Gordon shared an image of a strikingly bare P+J entrance hall, quipping: “Bit of a Willy Wonka vibe on entering the Scottish Tory conference in Aberdeen.”

Tories sharing images of themselves in that entrance hall had much closer-up shots taken in front of the one big sign. Next to no background. Smart.

Gordon’s colleague Andrew Learmonth shared another image inside the hall, to be fair revealing two more rows of seats than McCall did. That’s up to 144 attendees then.

Except, Learmonth wrote: “Arrived in the main hall for Scottish Tory conference.

“Steward asked me if I could ‘fill the gaps’.”

With the Prime Minister’s visit set for Friday, you might have thought the Tories could drum up a few more attendees.

If there ever was a sign of a party limping into defeat at the next election.

Maybe the crowds will be bigger once the George Michael tribute act show gets underway this evening in the same venue.

We are not kidding.

The National: