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'In haunting words, the Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for Hamilton, South (Mr. Robertson), said that devolution would kill nationalism stone dead. Stone dead? Nationalism is trampling all over them.' Michael Kerr, Earl of Ancram, Hansard, 6 th May 1998. |  |
The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party are in the process of selecting prospective Scottish parliamentary candidates ready for the election on 6 May 1999:
Party chairman Raymond Robertson was quick to praise the list, which affects half of Scotland, but it was criticised by several party activists as being largely unimaginative.
"It is a classic case of tactical voting gone haywire," said one candidate who came too far down the list to have any chance of success. Another, who is standing for the set of lists which is still to be settled, said: "It looks like a question of young talent versus the 'I've-been-here-for-30-years-mob' and the latter have clearly won in many parts of the country."
The other four regional lists will be announced later this month, completing the Tory selection process. All the lists comprise the first-past-the-post candidates in the region, ranked by a selection meeting which involved local party chairman and central office figures.
It was claimed that too often these local chairman voted for candidates least threatening to their own constituency choice, skewing the result. But in Edinburgh and Glasgow the results were more straightforward, with prospective Parliamentary leader David McLetchie topping the Lothian list ahead of former MP James Douglas-Hamilton.
In Glasgow, Bailie William Aitken came top, while young Muslim female candidate Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh at number two is seen as one of the more imaginative choices.
For months, Herald/System Three poll analyses have pointed to the Tories winning no constituency seats as they have failed to improve on their rating at the last General Election's wipe-out. It means they are guaranteed a single extra member in most lists, and two in some, although this has varied month by month.
Bailie Aitken has spent 23 consecutive years as a Tory councillor in Glasgow, giving him an unrivalled standing in the city party. As the party's most consistent winner in Glasgow, he has held off constant Labour threats over the years to his stronghold in the city's West End. An insurance underwriter, he sits as a magistrate in Glasgow District Court.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, a Glasgow lawyer and practising Muslim whose Pakistani-born father was a Tory councillor and parliamentary candidate in Edinburgh, is also their choice to fight the crucial Govan constituency in first-past-the-post voting.
Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh is seen as a rising star in the Scottish Tory ranks and believes she can do well enough in Govan to push Labour into third place after the tribulations of Mohammad Sarwar, Labour's suspended Westminster MP, and bitter Labour feuding in the constituency.
While there was no criticism of the selection of Bailie Aitken and Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh as first and second on the Tory list, there was anger in Glasgow at the middle order which included freelance journalist and historian Michael Fry in fourth place. Mr Fry is also Tory candidate for Maryhill, a Labour stronghold.
One Tory activist said he was writing to the party expressing disgust at "New Labour-style cronyism" over the selections, accusing the party of exercising excessive influence bordering on undemocratic and sharp practice. - Feb 9
Mr Gallie beat Alex Fergusson, the Tory candidate in Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, into second place with Murray Tosh (Cunninghame South) coming third.
The surprise in South of Scotland was former MEP Alasdair Hutton coming a poor fifth in the region where the Tories will win three list seats at most. Annabel Goldie (Renfrewshire West) who is tipped as a future Tory leader in Holyrood, headed the list in West of Scotland ahead of Glasgow councillor John Young, but both could be elected.
After a weekend of meetings across Scotland, the Tories announced their final selection of regional candidates yesterday in four of the eight regional seats. Choices in the first four were announced earlier this month.Feb 23
Mid Scotland and Fife - 1 Keith Harding (Central Fife); 2 Nick Johnston (Ochil); 3 Brian Monteith (Stirling); 4 Murdo Fraser (North Tayside); 5 Edward Brocklebank (North East Fife); 6 Dr Carrie Ruxton (Dunfermline East); 7 Ian Stevenson (Perth); 8 James Mackie (Dunfermline West); 9 Mike Scott-Hayward (Kirkcaldy).
Lothians - 1 David McLetchie (Edinburgh Pentlands); 2 James Douglas-Hamilton (Edinburgh W); 3 Iain Whyte (Edinburgh South); 4 Jacqui Low (Edinburgh Central); 5 Jamie Sempill (Edinburgh North and Leith); 6 Jeremy Balfour (Edinburgh E & Musselburgh); 7 Douglas Younger (Livingston); 8 Gordon Lindhurst (Linlithgow); 9 George Turnbull (Midlothian).
Central Scotland - 1 Lyndsay McIntosh (Kilmarnock & Loudoun); 2 Margaret Mitchell (Hamilton South); 3 Craig Stevenon (East Kilbride); 4 Gordon Millar (Falkirk West); 5 Alister Orr (Falkirk East); 6 Stuart Thomson (Hamilton N and Bellshill); 7 Gordon Lind (Coatbridge and Chryston); 8 Robin Slack (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth); 9 William Gibson (Motherwell and Wishaw); 10 Patrick Ross-Taylor (Airdrie and Shotts).
Glasgow - 1 Bill Aitken (Glasgow Anniesland); 2 Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Glasgow Govan); 3 Dr Kate Pickering (Glasgow Baillieston); 4. Michael Fry (Glasgow Maryhill); 5 Mary Leishman (Glasgow Cathcart); 6 Assad Rasul (Glasgow Kelvin); 7 Rory O'Brien (Glasgow Pollok); 8 Colin Bain (Glasgow Shettleston); 9 Murray Roxburgh (Glasgow Springburn); 10 Mic Starbuck (Glasgow Rutherglen)
North East Scotland: 1 David Davidson (Banff and Buchan); 2 Ben Wallace (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine); 3 Alex Johnstone (Gordon); 4 Ron Harris (Angus); 5 Nanette Milne (Aberdeen South); 6 Iain Haughie (Aberdeen North); 7 Gordon Buchan (Dundee West); 8 Tom Mason (Aberdeen Central); 9 Iain Mitchell (Dundee East).
South of Scotland: 1 Phil Gallie (Ayr); 2 Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale); 3 Murray Tosh (Cunninghame South); 4 David Mundell (Dumfries); 5 Alasdair Hutton (Roxburgh and Berwickshire); 6 John Campbell (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale); 7 John Scott (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley); 8 Charles Cormack (Clydesdale); 9 Christine Richards (East Lothian).
West of Scotland: 1 Annabel Goldie (Renfrewshire West); 2 John Young (Eastwood); 3 Charles Ferguson (Strathkelvin and Bearsden); 4 Dorothy Luckhurst (Clydebank and Milngavie); 5 Donald Reece (Dumbarton); 6 Richard Wilkinson (Greenock and Inverclyde); 7 Mike Johnston (Cunninghame North); 8 Peter Ramsay (Paisley North); 9 Sheila Laidlaw (Paisley South).
Highlands and Islands: 1 Jamie McGrigor (Western Isles); 2 Mary Scanlon (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber); 3 Richard Jenkins (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross); 4 Andrew Findlay (Moray); 5 David Petrie (Argyll and Bute); 6 Gary Robinson (Shetland); 7 John Scott (Ross, Skye and Inverness); 8 Christopher Zawadski (Orkney).
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