CONSERVATIVES in London have held secret talks about breaking away from the UK party to form their own distinct group in the hope of emulating the success of Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Tories.
The series of meetings held by senior London Conservatives in the last 12 months have discussed adopting their own leader, creating a new brand and formulating fresh London-specific policies.
The move comes as the Tories are bracing themselves for heavy losses in the May 3 local elections across England and in particular in the UK capital.
According to analysis, the Conservatives are said to be facing losses of almost 100 seats to just over 500 across London as well as the loss of all nine councils they currently control.
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson to sidestep UK Tory leadership battle - for now
Faced with such a drubbing, it is said that senior Tories are looking to the appointment of a London leader, who would be able to differentiate the party in the capital from what is seen as a “very provincial” image created by Theresa May.
Any discrete group for London would almost inevitably take a more pro-EU stance on Brexit given that, like Scotland, the UK capital voted to Remain in the 2016 EU referendum.
The right-wing Spectator magazine claims that those involved in the talks have been encouraged by the success of Ms Davidson whose distinct brand and policies have helped boost the party’s fortunes north of the border.
However in 2011, the Scottish Conservatives decided not to split from the main Conservative and Unionist Party but, rather, remained aligned yet with stronger controls over policy and tactics north of the border.
READ MORE: Kevin McKenna - Ruth Davidson's Union flag ploy is dismal and sinister
Helped by the polarisation of politics in Scotland between support and opposition to the Union, Ms Davidson has seen the Scottish Tories overtake Labour and become the second force in politics in Scotland with the party’s goal in the 2021 Holyrood elections to oust the SNP and take power.
But the Edinburgh MSP urged caution about talk of break-away groupings, saying that the Scottish Tories had the option to do so seven years ago but chose to stay within the mainstream Conservative family.
“I argued we could win again as Conservatives and should stay; that's what the party in Scotland chose to do. Devolution, not independence; that's the answer,” declared Ms Davidson.
Ahead of the May polls, one UK Cabinet Minister suggested radical action was now needed by the party in London, telling the Spectator: “There is only one word to describe the party in London: screwed.”
Lord Hayward, the council polling expert, said he expected the Tories to lose seats in London next month with the Liberal Democrats making gains.
“But I don't expect them to lose to such an extent that it would endanger Theresa May's prime ministership,” he added, noting: “People outside London are much more nationalistic, more loyal to the country and that is because of the make-up of the population.'
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson to sidestep UK Tory leadership battle - for now
On May 3 some 4,000 council seats in England will be contested. There are no polls in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland; so it will be the only electoral snapshot before Brexit happens next year.
A swing away from the Tories is expected in pro-EU London where all seats in the 32 boroughs are up for election.
The story, however, could be different outwith the capital in the 34 metropolitan boroughs; all seats in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle are being contested.
A varying number of seats are also up for grabs across 55 district councils and 17 unitary authorities.
Plus, there are mayoral elections in the London boroughs of Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets as well as in Watford and South Yorkshire.
Conservative HQ is lowering expectations in the hope that the losses will not be as bad as some think to produce a victory of sorts. Labour, on the other hand, is hoping for a major breakthrough to keep up the momentum behind Jeremy Corbyn’s push to get into Downing Street.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel