'Stockholm Syndrome' in Scotland, senior Scottish Conservatives have branded Boris Johnson a 'liability' after the PM has said 'devolution has been a disaster', why should it take the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to say publicly something which everyone knows and has known for years, certain Scottish Conservatives have spent too long in a broken Scottish political system that they have become normalised to it, they appear to misunderstand what their business is, and what product they are selling, and to whom

Dear All

It has always been said that the Conservative Party is the party of business, I think most people would acknowledge that point even if they don't like the relationship between the Conservatives and 'big business'. I have never been a businessman, never own a business so my view is of someone who is on the sidelines. In business, you need to understand several things, you need to know your product, you need to know how to price, market and deliver your product so that your business 'flows'. This isn't rocket science, some items require specialised advertising if they target a niche market. You want as large a customer base has possible, and of course, you want repeat business from customers. If all this sounds plausible then we are on the same page mentally, there are other factors to be sure to take into account such as location and other variables, but in general, you should have a business plan which appeals to your 'core' market and build on that base.

So, what happens, if a new team takes over and trashes the plan of appealing to your core market?

The best example that I can come up which shows how disastrous thinking can ruin a business model is 'Star Wars'. Certain types of movies achieve an almost zen like quality among its followers, they allow the customer to extend beyond the cinematic experience of watching the movie. Star Wars does this, Star Trek does this also and so does The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The first Star Wars movie set a tone which had an almost mystical quality to it, a story of good versus evil, a story of a journey leading to self sacrifice and public service on behalf of others. George Lucas, the creator and director understood his 'product' because he could immerse himself in a world he created. Star Wars was a collaborative process involving many people, but undoubtedly it was George Lucas vision.

When Disney bought the rights to Star Wars, they failed to recognise or understand what the vision was. The last three Star Wars movies not only were bad, they were awful, and the people who made them showed utter contempt for the 'core' base. Rian Johnson who changed the franchise didn't understand his market, and he didn't understand his duty to the source material.   

https://deadline.com/2019/12/star-wars-rian-johnson-defends-the-last-jedi-as-fan-debate-churns-on-1202815123/

One guy who 'gets it' in the Star Wars universe is Jon Favreau, his series called The Mandelorian, it is starting its second series, it's a fan favourite, and Favreau achieved all this because he knew he had to cater for the 'core' base. Simply put get them and everyone else will follow because the product is so good. Why will they follow, because even if they don't respect the lore, they can appreciate a well made and crafted storyline, and show. This is a quite a long intro but I want you to get is how important it is to understand business and the various aspects to market for success. The same principles apply to any business, and politics is a business, the products are parties, policies and people, that is what is being sold to you as a 'customer'.

Recently, Boris Johnson said that 'devolution has been a disaster' for Scotland. So, is he right? If he is right, why has his remarks caused such an upset, and the next question is his claim backed up by proof? If we take it we aren't relying on his opinion, we're therefore forced to look at facts as they relate to the party in charge of Scotland, the SNP and the people involved in running it and the SNP Scottish Government. At this point, it would be easy to just type of a mountain of information, all of it freely available in the public domain. I have chosen one website to give you a taste of the disaster that Boris Johnson has been alluding to which could have more added to it.

https://www.effiedeans.com/2020/10/the-snp-hall-of-shame.html    

And like any good movie, there is a sequel.

https://www.effiedeans.com/2020/10/the-snp-hall-of-shame-part-2.html

Devolution under the SNP has been broken, the Scottish Government has been corrupted and has been used as a battering ram to attack Westminster. The real purpose of devolution was to make the lives of Scottish people better, by the notion that decisions taken locally would be better managed to suit local issues. Under the SNP, and assuming you clicked on the links above to read about the carnage caused by them in public office and life, you can see this is not so. Devolution isn't just a disaster as Boris says, it has failed and failed miserably, we have a second rate parliament that is filled with third rate politicians. It's a clown's circus which needs abolished, it's a parliament that cannot provide an effective opposition, it can't hold the SNP Government to account, and it is ultimately held in contempt by the SNP because they control the levers of the Scottish Government. One thing the Salmond inquiry teaches us is how much the SNP are willing to ignore the will of parliament to allow it to function properly.

What I find incredible is that senior Scottish Conservatives claim that Boris Johnson is a liability for saying something which they should have said years ago. In truth, it's the senior Scottish Conservatives who don't understand Scotland, if they did, they wouldn't have spent 40 years in the political wilderness. The party became viable because people, voters gave them a chance after the decline of Scottish Labour under Kezia Dugdale. Kezia made the Scottish Conservatives a vessel for the pro UK vote after saying she could see a reason under certain circumstances to vote for Scottish Independence. It wasn't good marketing that uplifted the Conservatives in Scotland but rather right place and right time. The fact that there appears to be several senior party sources willing to say that the Prime Minister was “making life difficult” for them ahead of the Holyrood election is interesting. It begs a question, why haven't you been making life difficult for the SNP over the past 13 years that they have been in power?

Why haven't the Scottish Conservatives been making life difficult for the SNP, why has it took Boris Johnson and the UK Party to do that for them?

Again, and for the avoidance of doubt, devolution has been a "disaster" and was the “biggest mistake” of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair thought he could set up a rigged parliament that the SNP could take part in but could never win, in order to quell support for independence. The reality is that his planners didn't notice the flaws in the rigged system which has led to the current constitutional crisis. Although Boris Johnson’s official spokesman has attempted to clarify what Boris meant when he made the remarks at a meeting with northern English MPs, he added Boris will “be the voice of the majority of Scots” and said he “fully supported devolution”. Personally, I wouldn't have backtracked, devolution can never work if the SNP controls the levers of power in the Government and Parliament of Scotland. It is unlikely that the SNP is ever going to change its modus operandi of preaching hate and division, in this climate, how is devolution going to work?

Boris' spokesman said:

“This government continues to put the union at the heart of all that we do. Now more than ever is the time for the United Kingdom to be pulling together to focus on defeating this virus. The PM has been clear that he thinks the four corners of the UK are stronger together and he will be the voice of the majority of Scottish people who voted decisively to keep the UK together, and he will always stand against those trying to separate the United Kingdom. He is very clear that he rejects the SNP’s call to break up the UK”.

So, where does that leave Douglas Ross as Scottish leader, well if you read online comments, the people that Douglas Ross needs to reach out to the 'core' pro UK vote aren't happy with him. I think unhappy rather dilutes the strength of feeling they currently have towards him, some people have even gone onto contact him directly on twitter. There is a thing called the 80/20 rule, 20% of your customers buy 80% of your product, to me it seems that Douglas Ross thinks like Rian Johnson, who was more interested in the 80% who only buy 20%. If Douglas Ross loses his 'core' vote, he will be in trouble at the next Holyrood election. It's the 20% who are the magnet to pull in other votes because they 'believe'. I believe that Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is wrong, and he is wrong to have communicated his anger over the remarks directly to Boris over something he should have said himself. Is there anything that Holyrood is doing which couldn't have been done if the Scottish Parliament didn't exist and Westminster had control? I would venture very little indeed, all the services that currently operate like the Health Service, Education and law would also still operate.

Ross did say:

“Devolution is not the problem, the nationalist administration in Edinburgh is the problem because they use the tools of devolution and the levers of power, not to benefit, every single individual in every single community right across Scotland, but to further their aim to separate Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. The SNP will use anything they can to further the ambition to separate Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom, and to take the focus away from their domestic record.”

Nothing he said there is unknown to the Scottish public.

A Conservative source said:

“This is not what we need right now, six months from the elections. Boris is turning in to a liability, and he needs to stop talking about issues that he clearly does not understand. Devolution has not been a disaster by any means, and while I think he is talking about the way it has been weaponised by the SNP, it isn’t coming across like that.”

If the Scottish Conservative pitch at the next Holyrood election is not a platform to fix a broken system, then could someone let me what it is, in the comment section. Devolution from 1999 to 2007 didn't work properly either, so what is Douglas Ross' plan? If it is change the deck chairs and seating, and remove constant indyref 2 from the Scottish Government, yes, he can halt that if he wins. But people will be looking beyond that and prior to the election, they are looking for "proof", the ten foot big as shit, balls in your face truth. If the proof isn't forthcoming or no one can grasp what the public needs, then it won't be Boris who failed to win Scotland at the election, it will be Douglas Ross. A bad 2021, and a bad 2024 for Douglas Ross will make his position as leader untenable. He has already had a public argument with his boss which his core customers didn't like one bit. He also fails to grasp that his customers can take their business elsewhere, there are other viable alternatives as it relates to the Holyrood 'list' in 2021.

Finally, I hope that the way I have framed this blog post has some educational value to you to ponder on. As someone who can step back and look at things as they are, some things are emerging which I am sure pro UK supporters didn't expect. There are senior Scottish Conservatives who have spent too much within their political bubble.They have lost perspective. They might know the 'ins and out' of the Holyrood system but they seem blinded by reality both socially and politically. The cause is having spent too much time in a broken system, it has become normalised to them. I have previously talked about the Holyrood 'list' system having created in effect a 'hostage' mentality for parties MSPs, I stand by that opinion. I read what senior Scottish Conservatives have said about Boris and I think 'Stockholm Syndrome'. Boris is right, devolution has been a disaster because when it was setup the concept was wrong. Maybe the senior Scottish Conservatives need a refresher course in business, and then a course in, 'who votes for you' and they better learn quick, six months till an election! 

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University