The Fight to Win Scotland from the SNP, former Conservative Minister thinks it's a bad idea that Prime Minister Boris Johnson should campaign in Scotland at the Holyrood 2021 election, why are people so stupid to buy into the SNP narrative that Johnson isn't welcome, who do you think is saving Scottish businesses and people by keeping them afloat, it certainly isn't Nicola Sturgeon, it's Boris!

Dear All 

In the run up to the Holyrood election in 2021, all p[arties will need all the help that they can get to sell their case to the public. The first thing I would say is do you know Douglas Ross? If you aren't interested in politics the chances are you will say, 'who'? And in many respects, Douglas Ross hasn't had a 'star is born' moment since the Scottish Conservatives got rid of Jackson Carlaw and he became leader. One thing which off the bat which surprised me was that Douglas Ross having obtained the leadership of the Scottish Conservatives, didn't throw the towel in on being a 'linesman' in football. As mistakes go, the message of continuing his part time job sent a rather negative message, which wasn't helped when he said that "if" he was to become First Minister, he would give it up. 

In the marketing of Douglas Ross, we were told that he and Ruth Davidson are a 'team', well that to me sounds far-fetched, because once the Holyrood election is over, Ruth Davidson will leave Holyrood and take up a peerage in the House of Lords. I assume there might be talk of her being a UK Government Minister but the attraction of that will depend possibly on a number of factors, chiefly Douglas Ross becoming FM. Doulas Ross and Ruth Davidson are only a 'team' in the same sense that anyone else who is a Conservative activist who campaigns for Holyrood is part of the team. What I don't see is joint leadership of the campaign, presumably because there isn't, well to be fair, Covid has killed off campaigning, so any 'launches' are rather drowned out because crowds aren't allowed. Ruth Davidson is a household name, she was in the ritght place at the right time to catch the wave of Labour leader Kezia Dugdale anti union spiel which benefited her party. But, the wave just as it came in, must and eventually goes out, the trick question for Scottish Conservatives is, is it still going out? 

What the Scottish Conservatives need is a surge, question is, how can they do this with the public. I would say that they have to Fight a Holyrood campaign on mixed platform of Westminster, Holyrood and Council issues. They have to fight on the Holy Trinity of campaigning using access they have to the UK Government resources. They have to deliver a 'Westminster' manifesto is so popularist and meaningful that SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon cannot match it. The Scottish Conservatives have to fight the good fight on a blue collar working class ticket which is so attractive that the 'baubles' Sturgeon offers pales into insignificance. What we do know is that the Scottish Conservatives will not be doing a deal with other pro UK parties or forming alliances, you see they are committed to go it alone as per usual. 

Already, even before the starting gun is fired, it seems that some senior Conservatives don't want Prime Minister Boris Johnson up here campaigning. They claim he has been “found out” by the coronavirus crisis, the reality is everyone got found wanting on Covid-19. The idea of Boris not campaigning in Scotland is nonsense, and it reinforces the SNP doctrine of the bad English Tories. What I find funny is that one former minister told the press that Boris Johnson was a “monkey on Douglas Ross’s back”. So, what would happen if Boris didn't appear? I would suggest that Douglas Ross' lack of star power would make him struggle to get press, and Ruth Davidson would be faced with the same question about her role and when does it end. So, who fronts the Scottish campaign, Ross or Davidson? The joint ticket thing to me is a myth, something invented to explain away the inconvenient truth that Douglas Ross is not an MSP. If Doulas Ross were an MSP, Ruth Davidson role would be drastically scaled downwards, you know it and I know it. 

At present, the opposition to the SNP aren't doing well, again due to different factors, one of which is that they can't compete with Nicola Sturgeon daily party political broadcast. Then there is the latency of lack of policies to show that they are a government in waiting, and the lack of exposure of the rest of the team who would in theory make up the next government. Not only don't you know who goes where regarding portfolios' but the reality is there is also a lack of name recognition. No one knows who Douglas Ross' team are, and given his low profile, you have to ask is that going to change anytime soon?  

The Scottish Conservatives are hoping for a Labour collapse but given the level that the Labour Party operates at present, the vote sitting at circa 18%, activism dramatically reduced, their only trajectory must be up. A recent poll put Labour on 18% up one which is still the same effective dire position that they have been for some time, what is left to collapse, they are being bailed out financially by the UK Party. 

The former minister said: 

“How many Tory candidates for the Holyrood election will put Boris in their leaflets? None. Anyone in the Conservative Party doesn’t want him anywhere near that election. They won’t want him to come up, they won’t want any photos. Ruth will be the leader with Douglas as her liegeman. There will be no sign of Boris.” 

Do you think Ruth Davidson is the leader of the Scottish Conservatives? If you think , yes' you are wrong, she isn't the leader, that position is held by Douglas Ross. If a former minister is saying she is the leader, then that guy has an understanding problem of who makes the decisions in Scotland. The analysis suggesting Scottish voters’ “loathing” Boris Johnson is based on the SNP's anti English, anti Tory rhetoric which they pump out like a broken sewage pipe. And since no one is countering this effective 'hate speech', the public are bombarded with this much like the Germans were under the Nazis in 1930's. Nicola Sturgeon has pointed the finger at Boris Johnson and told Scots that Johnson is the cause of all their ills. Boris Johnson isn't the biggest factor driving the Scottish people to back independence, he never was. 

The SNP are doing the same as Democrats in America, they are pumping out manipulation polling to suppress the pro UK vote. The 11 consecutive snapshots have shown a lead for Scotland leaving the UK is done in a climate of hate so that people will give an emotional response. I have never ever been contacted by a polling in my entire life, and I suspect that you haven't either. Polling can rigged, and polling can be manipulated in conjunction with the media to give a prescribed answer. In fact, I urge you to have a look at the media coverage of the American election as it relates to polling and the press. The pollsters predicted a massive Biden landslide, but the reality is different, in one state, the public were told that the Biden vote was 17 points ahead of Trump. It turned in that state that the voting race was neck and neck. 

There is a climate of fear and manipulation being done in Scotland, and it is no accident, its deliberate! It is no surprise that that Boris Johnson is portrayed in a bad light regularly. It was the UK Government who bailed out Scotland with its cash, not Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. It was the UK Government supplying money for small Scottish businesses to keep them, afloat, not the SNP. 

It was the SNP who held back the money, it was Nicola Sturgeon!

Boris Johnson is like Alex Salmond when it comes to being a great communicator, but like Salmond, he doesn't micromanage on the details, he farms that out to others. One thing you could say about Johnson and Salmond, they were both successful in running a team. Nicola Sturgeon doesn't have a 'team', the Cabinet in Scotland is that in name only. What Sturgeon has is like Blair, 'Sofa Government', it's her and her advisors. The job of Boris Johnson is to pilot Brexit through, once he has done that, he can concentrate on the new political landscape. 

The new political landscape in the UK next year, once Brexit is a memory is 'global UK', in this new era, it sees the SNP left high and dry, no indyref 2, no EU membership and the final collapse of a defunct narrative that the SNP has pushed about Scotland in Europe. So, change is coming, but one of the changes is to rein in the nonsense that has been committed by the SNP using their political offices. It's time for a fight, it's time to hit back, and keep hitting back on Scotland's bullies, the SNP. 

Should Boris Johnson campaign in Scotland, the answer is yes, and so should anyone else from his cabinet and the wider Conservative Party. If the Scottish Conservatives are to stand any chance of kicking the SNP out of office it has to be as a unite party. It has to be clever, and it has to apply pressure on Sturgeon and her gang so they come under the spotlight. How do you apply pressure, well, it's simple, he who pays the money can audit where it went. If money isn't being passed on them the money should be returned by law to Westminster. Another thing which I have mentioned before is that the UK Government have to exercise power in Scotland in a proactive way, the new UK Building in Edinburgh shouldn't be a symbol but rather a powerhouse for helping Scotland and Scots thrive in the UK. Everyone the UK helps in Scotland to thrive is someone less willing to back Sturgeon. Nicola Sturgeon isn't creating wealth or jobs in Scotland, that is the UK Government, is a simple message but it has bite. 'Scotland is better in the UK because Scots thrive'.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University