I wish I knew some psychologist who’d studied the Tory soul. Perhaps ‘soul’ is a stretch. A priest or minister would be required for that - though Conservatives sure as hell seem in need of some spiritual guidance these days, that’s for sure.
Maybe I’d be better saying that I wish I knew a psychologist who’d studied what makes the Tory mind tick. For the life of me, after more than 50 years on this planet, I struggle to understand what motivates them, or how and why they do the things they do. Frankly, I just don’t get how they sleep at night.
There’s an in-your-face air of absolute entitlement, a sense of ‘couldn’t-give-a-fill-in-the-expletive-of-your-choice’. Shame seems an unknown emotion. Everything is focused on their needs, their wants, their privilege and right to just do whatever the hell they feel like doing. The narcissism is off-the-scale.
The leaders of the Tory Party in both its Scottish and UK forms have gone all out these past few days to show us just how little they care about the standards the rest of us live by, and how little they care if they upset or offend our values.
What’s more debasing? Their lies, their fake patriotism, their cut-throat shove-your-granny-off-the-bus outright selfishness and amoral self-interest? I mean, where to start with this bunch?
The Prime Minister set the mood music for the week when he decided to simply tell outright lies live on TV in the hope of jamming voters' minds with so much disinformation that some of us are stupid enough to fall for his fantasies and vote for this sorry crowd of con-artists.
Rishi Sunak said “independent Treasury officials have costed Labour’s policies and they amount to a £2000 tax rise for every working family”. However, the Treasury’s top civil servant - permanent secretary James Bowler - said such a claim “should not be presented as having been produced by the civil service”.
Treasury minister Laura Trott amplified the lie insisting the claim was “underpinned overwhelmingly by Treasury analysis”.
Douglas Ross denied the Conservatives had 'sacked a man on his sickbed' after he replaced David Duguid as a General Election candidate.
— STV News (@STVNews) June 6, 2024
Live updates: https://t.co/yei3N0rd9O pic.twitter.com/nCnNak81le
Lie upon lie. But then what form of morality can you expect from a party which has as its biggest donor Frank Hester, a multi-millionaire who said Diane Abbott “should be shot”. On Thursday, we learned of more allegations, this time that Hester had referred to a member of staff as a “token Muslim” and imitated people of Chinese descent.
Sunak capped it all by skipping out on D-Day and leaving commemorative events in Normandy early so he could get back to electioneering. Why do we believe that the Tories are the party of patriotism, the armed services, and respect for veterans? It’s simply not true. Yet again, it’s a lie, a mask to dupe us.
They care not one iota about the trust we put in them or the responsibility they carry for this country. David Johnston, the Tory UK minister for children, just appeared on LBC Radio and was asked “how much is child allowance”. Not only did he not know, by the tone in his voice he couldn’t have cared less.
If Sunak is a disgrace, though, his sidekick in Scotland managed to sink even lower. Sunak may have thought he’d scrapped the bottom of the barrel. Douglas Ross proved there was much deeper to go.
Read more from Neil Mackay:
- Taylor Swift, homeless children and Scotland’s shame
- It’s time to wake up: the SNP is conning us over independence
- ‘Architect of devolution’ explains what’s gone wrong in Scotland - and how we fix it
Ross has been a moral vacuum throughout his time in office, yet his actions this week reached a deplorable level. He has found a place to inhabit where decency is nowhere to be found. Ross basically kicked a gravely ill colleague under the bus so he could get a sniff at the rotten hem of power. God knows how the man looks at himself in the mirror.
Former Conservative Scottish Office minister David Duguid was stopped from running for Westminster in the election - and Ross then took his place.
Ross had the gall to insist that he had “nothing to do with” the decision to block Duguid, blaming it all on the management board of the Scottish Tories. Ross sits on the management board.
Duguid has been severely ill with serious health problems related to his spine. So Ross effectively sacked a man - who he calls his “friend” - on his sickbed. Duguid has insisted that he’s fit to run.
To compound his sins, Ross drew parallels with former Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, who had both hands and feet amputated and later announced that he wouldn’t enter the election. However, Mackinlay voluntarily quit. He wasn’t pushed.
Here’s the sorry truth about the likes of Sunak and Ross: through their acts of grotesque selfishness and amorality, they pave the path to their own political defeat.
Nigel Farage is about to come roaring after the Tories. Some polls show Reform climbing five points since he threw his hat into the ring. Reform are now on 16% to the Tories 23%.
Clearly, Sunak is terrified and his egregious behaviour is motivated by the hope of staving off this Farage surge. Yet his lies and scheming are just another reason for those on the extreme right of the Tory Party to bin him and shift to Reform.
As for Ross, well, I was taken by an image my colleague Andrew Learmonth, the Herald’s political correspondent, posted on social media. He wrote: “Spoke to a Tory activist in Fraserburgh about everything that’s happened today. She just sent me this photo.” It was a picture of her Conservative membership card torn to pieces.
Spoke to a Tory activist in Fraserburgh about everything that's happened today. She just sent me this photo. https://t.co/pPuk4S6MX0 pic.twitter.com/IaiW6g98Bg
— Andrew Learmonth (@andrewlearmonth) June 6, 2024
Who would vote for Ross? Even the modern Tory, shaped in the hell-fires of Brexit and the culture wars, must have a limit - and they clearly do as that ripped up party card shows.
Karma is about to come back and bite Ross rather hard. Take a look at some seat predictions and you see Aberdeenshire North and Moray East - where Ross is standing - tilting already to the SNP. The website Polling Report puts Ross on about 28%, with Labour on 33% and SNP on 36%.
Here’s the kicker: if Ross blows this election, then he’s done. The Tories are going to implode in the face of a Labour landslide, and therefore Ross, as Scottish leader, already has his coat on a shoogly peg. Now he’s in the actual fight, he’s put a giant spotlight on himself, for when defeat arrives.
The Tories have no time for whoever they deem a ‘loser’, and so Ross will most likely find himself suffering a taste of his own cruel medicine come July 5. For many, it’ll be worth the wait.
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