SCOTTISH Tory leader Ruth Davidson is facing a collapse of discipline among her Westminster MPs after it emerged that none of them followed her example in backing Sajid Javid in the Conservative Party leadership race.
Despite announcing back in 2017 that her 13 new members of Parliament would vote in a bloc according to her orders, an already beleaguered Davidson now presides over a Scots Tory team who would rather back a hard-Brexit for Scotland than their boss’s orders.
During the week, Davidson faced ridicule following her latest volte-face on independence, where she said that an “absolute majority” for the SNP in Holyrood was the only basis upon which First Minister Nicola Sturgeon could hold a legitimate referendum.
Her comments came despite the fact that she previously said that a new PM should block it, while prior to that she said that it would be “not be wise” for the next Prime Minister to stand in the way of an indy vote; also acknowledging that the questions over trade, currency and borders were “utterly different” after Brexit.
And her Westminster mutiny also follows hot on the heels of the trouncing that her party suffered at the European Parliament elections, where the Tories could only scrape less than 12% of the Scottish vote share and thus marked Davidson’s fifth defeat in a national poll and the worst result in Scottish Tory history.
A Scottish Conservatives spokesperson told the Sunday National: “Unlike nationalist politicians, Scottish Conservative MPs are allowed a mind of their own.”
However, the SNP’s Shona Robison said that was “clear that Ruth Davidson’s MPs are getting sick and tired of her failed leadership”.
The MSP for Dundee City East added that Davidson’s “authority is seeping away at an incredible rate, leaving her increasingly isolated.
“And no wonder – she’s just overseen one of the most humiliating losses for the Tories in Scotland, her fifth election defeat out of five, dragging her party down to fourth place”
“By hitching her wagon to Sajid Javid’s campaign, she’s backing a no-deal candidate who is working against Scotland’s interests,” she added. ‘‘Sajid Javid wants to silence Scotland’s voice, saying he ‘won’t allow’ us to make democratic decisions over our future.”
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