Scottish Tories

John Swinney and Finance Secretary Kate Forbes

Brian Taylor: Could the new Scottish Tory leader cut a budget deal with John Swinney?
Column 173 28 September 2024 Headline: Could the new Scottish Tory leader cut a budget deal with John Swinney? Two quick questions on this quarter-centenary for the Scottish Parliament. What will Russell Findlay stand for as the new Scottish Conservative leader? And does anybody care? Yes, he is the heir to centuries of tradition. Yes, his party is still the only outfit, since universal suffrage, to win a popular majority in Scotland. (In 1955, thanks for asking.) But they have a rather variegated past. Some historians trace Scottish Tory roots back to the Jacobites. Others reflect that they gamely survived the nineteenth century, despite being routinely gubbed by the Liberals – in the “distant and Whiggish country” of Scotland.

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