Monday, December 30, 2013

Scottish independence: Michael Fry founds a new political party called Wealthy Nation; he supported the Scottish Conservatives for 40 years and got nowhere, now he hitches to a failed and ultimately doomed Alex Salmond campaign, for a Historian, he should have learned the lessons of history


















Dear All

It seems that there is another right wing party been established in Scotland called Wealthy Nation.

The title isn't very good, because it hardly sounds inclusive to me or serious.

It was launched last week by a group of centre-right rich guys and academics to promote independence.

You would think that since it has rich guys and academics they could have come up with a much better title!

On its agenda are economic empowerment, smaller government and self-reliance.

So, is the Mark 2 Tory Party that Murdo Fraser wanted to create?

Not quite, Murdo wanted to re-brand the Scottish Conservatives because he realised that the Tory brand in Scotland is so toxic. If he had got his way and set up a new name and party, would he had got anywhere? If the same people transferred across to occupy the same positions and with the exact same policies, it would have been a farce and a waste of time!

But the general idea was sound in principle.

The Wealthy Nation faction says that right wing policies are the only way for an independent Scotland to make the country richer.

Money for some people is the be all and end all but it does come in very handy to pay bills etc.

Its founder is Michael Fry, I saw him on one of the BBC independence debates I went to at Pacific Quay.

He is a historian who has campaigned for the Conservative Party for over 40 years.

Given the state of the current Scottish Conservative brand, he has had a tough time; hardly anyone is listening because the Tories don’t 'get it' regards to poor people in Scotland.

Fry rightly argues that the Tories are "going nowhere", you only have to listen to the likes of Tory MSP Alex Johnstone to know why, he gets a right few quid and is reasonably well off.

As to ‘fairness’, well it could be argued that he doesn’t give a fig about that or the poor.


What a star!

If you ask heavily bias and loaded questions without presenting the full facts you will get the answer you want.

Michael Fry said:

"People vote more on the left in Scotland than they do on the right but there's not much point in independence unless we become a wealthier and happier nation.

He added on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme:

"If Scotland is going to make itself richer then I'm afraid the only way to do this is by adopting right-wing policies, because only right-wing policies produce growth. Left-wing policies produce redistribution, perhaps, but there's going to be nothing to distribute unless we become richer first."

All roads they say lead to Rome, the question is how some people get there, he wants to go First class, but some people appear to be going on their hands and knees as we are all acutely aware in this country.

On the rather thorny issue of revival of the Tories in Scotland, he said:

"It's the only way this will happen because the Conservative Party has been stuck in a rut and is going nowhere. We have to move into a different environment where different policies become possible, and it seems to me and members of our group that an independent Scotland is the only context in which that is going to happen."

That isn't true.

The Conservatives in Scotland are part of Better Together, that campaign will be a success, but that will not change the fortunes of Ruth Davidson or her party, post indy defeat of Salmond and Sturgeon, people won’t be flocking to the Conservative cause.

They didn’t previously and they won’t post Salmond defeat.

It has been suggest that because the Scottish Conservatives took part in the Better Together campaign that people will come back to them in droves, they have even changed their logo recently. Did anyone think that people weren't voting Conservative because some didn't like the tree as a logo? Do they think them being part of Better Together, as the junior partner, it makes a difference? Is it likely people forgot they existed and somehow this 'event' will wake them up?

Ruth Davidson is seen as 'London's man' in Scotland, nothing else need be said.

The Scottish Conservatives can kid themselves but we all know differently regarding revival, they need to outsource their social policies and clamp down on people like Alex Johnstone talking.

Wealthy Nation has some rich guys in it, Fraser of Allander Institute founder David Simpson; financier, former Tory and independent Midlothian councillor Peter de Vink; former Tory donor Laurie Clark; and former SNP treasurer Ian Blackford.

What their real campaigning experience is will be open to debate, but I don’t see these people doing the hard slog on a doorstep in the pissing rain week in and week out. I see that these people were previously 'Chiefs', are they prepared to be 'Indians'?

I think not!

Anyway Blackford said:

"The decisions affecting the people of Scotland are best taken here, and over the course of the last few months a number of people right across the political spectrum have come forward and said they believe it's in the best interests of Scotland that people support the Yes campaign."

Using the SNP line of;

”the decisions affecting the people of Scotland are best taken here”, well, is this another SNP front or just an attempt to woo disaffected Tories to indy?

Who knows!

We will see what’s what when the new ‘political party’ starts putting candidates up for elections.

If at all!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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