>Former Scottish Tory leadership hopeful Jamie Greene has quit the party, claiming it has “abandoned” the centre ground in favour of a “Reform-lite agenda” that risks becoming “Trump-esque in both style and substance”.
>The West Scotland MSP, who has served as the party’s transport, education and justice spokesperson, announced he was resigning the whip with immediate effect.
>
>Mr Greene said he no longer recognised the party he joined under Ruth Davidson’s leadership, and accused advisers around current leader Russell Findlay of steering the party toward right-wing populism.
>“I do not believe that I have left the Conservative Party. I believe that the party has left me,” he said.
>Mr Greene, who is gay and from a working-class background in Greenock, said he once saw the Conservatives as a broad, socially liberal and inclusive party, but now feared it had returned to the days of the “Nasty Party”.
>He warned that chasing the votes of Reform UK supporters would never deliver electoral success, and said the party had given up on young Scots and the political centre ground.
>More to follow..
>Mr Greene, who is gay and from a working-class background in Greenock, said he once saw the Conservatives as a broad, socially liberal and inclusive party, but now feared it had returned to the days of the “Nasty Party”.
I guess Greene thought the Conservatives’ behaviour around LGBT+ rights was the aberration, when being in the Ruth Davidson milieu was the aberration.
And I say “in the milieu” because hanging out with Ruth and chums probably made ignoring what the party was doing to other communities harder to see.
I’m fascinated by the notion that the Tories ever managed to not be the ‘nasty’ party.
Their core belief of selfishness and greed has always been evil.
I suppose cognitive dissonance makes us tell ourselves lies so we can cope with our choices.
As someone on the centre-right, it irks me to read him say that the Tories have given up on young people as if it is something new. It isn’t. Davidson and Cameron did nothing substantial for young people either. The legacy of 14 years of Tory government at Westminster is that everything is more expensive and shittier for young people than it was for our parents. Even if I wasn’t pro-independence, I still would not vote for the Conservatives.
Prime r/leopardsatemyface…
New leadership going well.
As if anyone remembers who the new leader of the Scottish Tories are.
This is also prime “leopard face eating” material!
Greene was sacked from the Tory front bench for backing the gender self-ID changes the SNP tried to bring in. Whichever side of that fundamental argument you stand on, it’s hard to dispute (a) the Tory stance was clear and (b) the changes were unpopular with the public. Given that Greene was at odds with his colleagues and had been sacked, his defection (presumably to the Lib Dems in due course) is no surprise.
It does seem a bit like he’s going over a single issue – the gender identity debate.
He is probably in a minority of one with his colleagues on the substance, but I suspect there are a few who don’t much care for the tone that the party is taking in that discussion. Still, he seems entirely sincere on this one.
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Article as of 0909:
>Former Scottish Tory leadership hopeful Jamie Greene has quit the party, claiming it has “abandoned” the centre ground in favour of a “Reform-lite agenda” that risks becoming “Trump-esque in both style and substance”.
>The West Scotland MSP, who has served as the party’s transport, education and justice spokesperson, announced he was resigning the whip with immediate effect.
>
>Mr Greene said he no longer recognised the party he joined under Ruth Davidson’s leadership, and accused advisers around current leader Russell Findlay of steering the party toward right-wing populism.
>“I do not believe that I have left the Conservative Party. I believe that the party has left me,” he said.
>Mr Greene, who is gay and from a working-class background in Greenock, said he once saw the Conservatives as a broad, socially liberal and inclusive party, but now feared it had returned to the days of the “Nasty Party”.
>He warned that chasing the votes of Reform UK supporters would never deliver electoral success, and said the party had given up on young Scots and the political centre ground.
>More to follow..
>Mr Greene, who is gay and from a working-class background in Greenock, said he once saw the Conservatives as a broad, socially liberal and inclusive party, but now feared it had returned to the days of the “Nasty Party”.
I guess Greene thought the Conservatives’ behaviour around LGBT+ rights was the aberration, when being in the Ruth Davidson milieu was the aberration.
And I say “in the milieu” because hanging out with Ruth and chums probably made ignoring what the party was doing to other communities harder to see.
I’m fascinated by the notion that the Tories ever managed to not be the ‘nasty’ party.
Their core belief of selfishness and greed has always been evil.
I suppose cognitive dissonance makes us tell ourselves lies so we can cope with our choices.
As someone on the centre-right, it irks me to read him say that the Tories have given up on young people as if it is something new. It isn’t. Davidson and Cameron did nothing substantial for young people either. The legacy of 14 years of Tory government at Westminster is that everything is more expensive and shittier for young people than it was for our parents. Even if I wasn’t pro-independence, I still would not vote for the Conservatives.
Prime r/leopardsatemyface…
New leadership going well.
As if anyone remembers who the new leader of the Scottish Tories are.
This is also prime “leopard face eating” material!
Greene was sacked from the Tory front bench for backing the gender self-ID changes the SNP tried to bring in. Whichever side of that fundamental argument you stand on, it’s hard to dispute (a) the Tory stance was clear and (b) the changes were unpopular with the public. Given that Greene was at odds with his colleagues and had been sacked, his defection (presumably to the Lib Dems in due course) is no surprise.
It does seem a bit like he’s going over a single issue – the gender identity debate.
He is probably in a minority of one with his colleagues on the substance, but I suspect there are a few who don’t much care for the tone that the party is taking in that discussion. Still, he seems entirely sincere on this one.
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