Sixty years ago the Scottish Unionist Party (the former name of the Scottish branch of today’s Tory Party) stood in virtually the same position as the Scottish National Party (SNP) back in May. They had won 36 Scottish seats in the 1955 General Election and secured 50% of the vote. From then onwards both their seats and vote percentage in Scotland gradually diminished. By May 1997 they were left with no Scottish seats and ever since have failed to secure more than 1 in a General Election. Their performance in the Scottish Parliament is not that much better. In the first election of 1999 they failed to win any constituency seats but secured 18 List Seats. Their performance has improved slightly since 2003 and they have managed to hold onto 3 constituencies; acquiring a 4th in 2007 only to go back to 3 in 2011. The title of the book is a very good question; what did happen to Tory Scotland?
After reading ‘The Strange Death of Labour Scotland’ by Gerry Hassan and Eric Shaw I felt compelled to give ‘Whatever happened to Tory Scotland?’ a try. Needless to say I was equally impressed. Unlike the former, which is entirely the work of the aforementioned authors, this book is an edited collection of essays by renowned Scottish political commentators including journalists and academics, amongst the latter are two scholars I briefly studied under as an undergraduate. As the title of the book suggests, the central theme is to explore the reasons why the Tories have slipped from being Scotland’s largest political party to a struggling minority. Whilst the book deals with complex issues, it reads well and is highly engaging.
For me personally amongst the most interesting themes the authors consider as to why Tory support has declined in Scotland, is their changing stance on Scottish ‘diversity’. Whilst never abandoning their commitment to the British state and Scottish Unionism, before the 1960s the Tories were amongst the strongest advocates of the diverse nature of Scottish society and infrastructure, which they expressed through their policies. For example they were the architects of administrative devolution in Scotland which transferred ‘administrative’ control over issues including education, health, and agriculture amongst others from Whitehall to the newly formed Scottish Office, which was eventually relocated to Edinburgh in 1939. Furthermore in the aftermath of World War 2 the Tories defended Scottish diversity, when it was being undermined by the mass state centralisation being undertaken by the Attlee’s Labour Government. This contributed in part to its phenomenal results in 1955 and in 1951 where they won 35 Scottish seats. Apart from a few notable (albeit half-hearted and fruitless) episodes such as Edward Heath’s ‘Declaration of Perth’ in 1968 where he pledged to establish a Scottish assembly if elected, the Tories’ commitment to Scottish diversity withered from the 1960s onwards. By 1997 Tory policy towards Scotland had evolved to the point where by and large they opposed initiatives to accommodate Scottish diversity. For example they were the leading force in the campaign opposing the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and legislative devolution.
This is only one of numerous reasons why support for the Tories has dwindled in Scotland. Other themes examined include:
• Differences in class structure between Scotland and England
• Scotland’s rejection of ‘Thatcherism’ and ‘New Right Liberalism’
• The Tories’ awkward relationship with legislative devolution and their legacy as its chief opponent
• Growing sentiment that the Tories are an ‘English’ party.
These are only a few of the themes considered.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Scottish politics.
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