THE angriest man in Scotland, as one NNationalist website has described him, is the very soul of reason and tranquillity today.
Adam Tomkins, the John Millar Professor of Public
Law at Glasgow University, is considered the brightest star on Ruth Davidson’s Conservative firmament.
Indeed, as soon as this garlanded academic had intimated his intention to stand for the party at Holyrood, the Conservatives’ leader moved on to the Edinburgh list to make way for him.
His number oneNo 1 placing on the Glasgow list means he is virtually assured of success and, consequently, a dash of colour will be added to Holyrood’s cheeks.
Earlier this year, in an essay entitled ‘Impeachment Day’ he
left no one in any doubt as to his feelings for Alex Salmond and the SNP.
“Had Scotland voted Yes to independence in 2014 … Alex Salmond would surely be facing calls now that he be impeached. Never in our history has there been a dodgier dossier than the Scottish Government’s independence White Paper. It was a grotesque con – a wilful deception.”
Surely this can’t be the same benign boffin, avuncular in cardigan, small child in tow, I had encountered last Christmas at a drinks party assembled by Jeane Freeman, presumably an adherent of the “wilful deception” of Scottish independence?
“Jeane is a very talented woman,” he says of the SNP candidate for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley.
“If she is elected, though obviously I hope my party takes the seat, I have no doubt she will be an asset to Holyrood.”
When I tell him that some of his political opponents have voiced similar platitudes about him, he strives to be as humble as it’s possible for a lawyer to be.
He makes it clear that if Holyrood is to provide his working environment for the next five years he will abjure narrow party tribalism.
“First and foremost I want to be a good MSP for Glasgow; that is my primary responsibility.
“Like the SNP, I’m also passionate about narrowing the attainment gap in education in this country and widening access to our universities.
“It’s less important to me who delivers that than that it is achieved. If the SNP are serious about it, then I’ll do all that
I can to help them in reaching that goal.”
Tomkins has been specialising in constitutional and public law for a quarter of a century, during which he has taught at King’s College London and St Catherine’s, Oxford. He was elected to his current post in 2003 and considers Glasgow
to be his natural habitat.
“I love this city and its possibilities and this is why
I want its educational inequalities to be bridged.”
Lest he forgets that he is, in fact, a Tory amidst all this egalitarianism, I feel duty-bound to remind him he belongs to a party whose time in government has been characterised by cuts in public spending and welfare, which are deemed by many to have contributed to the inequality in education.
“I can only speak about my own record as a university academic in this regard,” he says.
“Wherever I’ve taught, I’ve done what I could to widen access to university education and taken the plunge with students who might otherwise not have been deemed suitable for a university education.
“You’ll find that most Scottish universities work hard to widen access to their courses.”
Some would say not hard enough, though.
Repeated surveys have consistently shown it is far
more difficult for children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to reach university than those from more affluent areas.
Tomkins argues that “soft” intervention rather than “hard” legislation is required to encourage universities to
do more.
“But surely,” I suggest, “such educational inequality, leading as it does to a narrow academic gene pool and increased spending in health and crime prevention in poorer areas, makes a strong case for legislation or for evening up
the odds?”
He circles the question and approaches it from another angle. “I want to target children at the pre-school stage and before,” he says. “I’ve been told that a child from a middle class family will hear one million more words by the time she reaches school than a child from a poor background. That’s the gap
I want to bridge.
“This isn’t just about more resources, though obviously money is important; there are other factors at work here.
“We need a cultural shift in how we deliver education, with local communities being handed more control over their schools.
“I’m still a supporter of the comprehensive system – both my parents taught in state schools – but there has to be more flexibility within it.”
He is upbeat about the Conservatives’ chances of finishing second in Thursday’s election and insists that, on the doorsteps, an increasing number of people who have never before voted Tory, are now ready to do so.
“We’re hearing the same four reasons over and over again: opposition to a second independence referendum; low taxes; approval of Ruth and providing meaningful opposition to the SNP.”
As NNationalists have gleefully pointed out since Tomkins announced his intention to run for Holyrood, in 2004 he spoke at a Scottish Socialist Party rally in Edinburgh to call for an independent Scottish republic.
To put this in context though, Brian Wilson, the carnaptious hammer of Scottish independence, was once himself a nNationalist.
In this small, intense, rainbow nation the colours are inclined occasionally to run.
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