A GLANCE at the candidates placed at the head of the Tory lists for the forthcoming May election is revealing, and demonstrates just how bereft of political talent the party is north of the Border.
Annie Wells, Jackson Carlaw and the unalluring Conservative leader Douglas Ross have all emerged as regional first choices, which begs the question as to who on earth they were up against. All three candidates are singularly lacking in basic inter-personal skills, political credibility and a moral compass. Collectively they have all the charisma of a dead halibut.
However, the potential return of Stephen Kerr to frontline politics, after he won first place on the Conservative list rankings for Central Scotland, really shows the paucity of talent at their disposal and the set of values they represent.
READ MORE: Former MP for Stirling looks set for return as he tops Tory regional list
Mr Kerr is a former member of the far-right wing European Research Group, the driving force behind Brexit. Despite 67.7% of his former Stirling constituents voting to remain in the EU, he place ideological zealotry and mindless party loyalty above their wishes. His antipathy to Scottish devolution is well recorded, as is his support for big business and his relatively relaxed views on measures to prevent climate change.
As a radical Tory he favours reforming of the NHS and, during his time at Westminster, voted consistently against gay rights, same-sex marriage and laws to promote equality and human rights.
In short, he is a reactionary and political carpetbagger who will seek to use his new position as an MSP to further his own right-wing agenda in accordance with his masters in London. As one of his unfortunate former constituents, I had hoped that we had seen the last of him and his regressive outlook. It appears that the Conservative party in Scotland has polarised, with any moderates being marginalised. It might be time for them to decide where they really stand in the independence debate.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
I WAS astonished to learn that Stephen Kerr has the effrontery to stand for Holyrood, let alone that he is first on the Tory list for Central Scotland. This is a man who was one of the most noisome of the Tory MPs in the Commons whenever an SNP MP rose to speak, who voted with Mrs May’s government whenever the issue was participation by the devolved nations in any part of the Brexit negotiations, and whose parliamentary record exhibits clear contempt for the Scottish Parliament. His election campaigns in 2016 and 2019 were based entirely on the single policy of denying a second referendum without a single positive word on devolved issues and, from his Facebook page, he seems to be trying the same thing again.
That the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party should place such an arrogant and contemptuous candidate, whom we flung out last time, first on their list here, ahead of a sitting MSP, says more about that party than I can express without reverting to Anglo-Saxon or guid plain Scots. It is an insult to the electors of this region that the Tories consider him to be fit to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
KM Campbell
Doune
WE are used to the hypocrisy of the Scottish Tories in their calls for Nicola Sturgeon to resign when they have no comment on Boris Johnson “misleading” the House of Commons in each of the last two Prime Minister’s Questions sessions or on Priti Patel, who breached the Ministerial Code.
This is also true when the Scottish Tories complain about the cost of reimbursing Alex Salmond’s legal costs. We have yet to hear them condemn those responsible in the Westminster government for the payment to Patel’s former Permanent Secretary, Sir Philip Rutnam, of £340,000 plus his legal costs. Dominic Cummings was implicated in the departure of an aide to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer; she reached an undisclosed settlement reported to be of “tens of thousands” of pounds.
READ MORE: Cut the bluster and come clean on indyref plans, Boris Johnson told
The early departure of the top civil servant, Sir Mark Sedwill, cost £250,000 in pension contributions. Even more eye-watering figures emerge from a report published by the Cabinet Office in December. It states: “Between April 1 2019 and March 31 2020, £2.7 million was paid in severance to special advisers.” In the first quarter of 2021 we have seen advisers Luke Graham and Oliver Lewis depart from No 10, so the cost to the public purse of the behaviour of the Conservatives at Westminster continues to rise. And not a word from the Scottish Tories about it.
Anne Brown
Linlithgow
RECENTLY I have heard from several elderly expatriate Scots. Some surprise me when they say they do not know one Scot who supports independence. And mention of Nicola Surgeon sets off a bout of apoplectic rage. I have wondered why. But now Stephen Gethins has provided an explanation. In the Sunday National he says: “You have to be in your 60s before you are in an age group that backs the Union”. So maybe it is just a matter of time?
Mike Fergus
Oslo, Norway
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