BRIAN Meek's open letter to William Hague (August 13), suggesting answers to the Tory Party's electoral plight, does not tackle their fundamental problem. The party's main problem is one of ideology.
Margaret Thatcher pushed the Tory Party so far to the right that it almost fell off the right-hand side of the graph paper. Tony Blair's answer to Labour's 18 years in the political wilderness was to make a similar move to the political right.
The move was so radical that Labour did not just butt-joint on to Tory territory, but overlapped it. Blair effectively stole the Tories' clothing. There the rub; particularly in Scotland.
If Labour's selection procedure for the Scottish Parliament had been allowed to take its natural course, we would have seen Scottish Labour retreat from New Labour's right-wing bias. This in turn would have given the Tories in Scotland some leeway to get back to one-nation Toryism.
Because of London's influence in Scottish Labour's selection procedure, the Labour candidates' list is crammed full of Blair sycophants. Consequently, New Labour MSPs will represent Labour in the Parliament.
The Scottish Tories will have no room for manoeuvre. Their only hope is for the Scottish Tory Party to unite with the Scottish New Labour Party. In doing so, the Tories would not be losing face as little separates the two parties.
The resulting party could be called the New Unionist Party. They could then have a ''head-to-head'' with the SNP and Scotland could choose what it really wants.
Rob Jamieson,
34 Newton Crescent, Dunblane.
August 14.
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