Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019 Page 13
QQQYou’d share your
McEwan’s with
this rare beastie
HENRY DEEDES
...on the sad departure of a
well-loved kick-boxing lassie
RUTH Davidson last night made a
final appeal to Boris Johnson to
seek a new Brexit deal with the EU- as she confirmed she was quit-
ting as Scottish Tory leader.
She said she stood ‘four-square’
behind his plan to get a deal that could
pass the Commons and urged MPs to
back him if he manages to secure one.
Miss Davidson, credited with reviving the
Tories’ fortunes in Scotland, has clashed
repeatedly with the Prime Minister over
Brexit, and had warned she could never
reconcile herself to the pursuit of No Deal.
Her departure could damage his hopes of
consolidating the Tories’ position north of
the border at the coming election.
But Miss Davidson softened the blow yes-
terday, refusing to directly criticise the
Prime Minister and urging MPs opposed to
No Deal to back any proposal he returns
with from Europe. She said her eight-year
By Jason Groves
Political EditorRuth quits but tells PM: I stand
behind you... now get us a deal!
F
Ew jollier characters have
adorned politics in recent
times than Ruth Davidson.
Eight years ago, before the
popular, kick-boxing lassie took
the soured chalice of leading the Scot-
tish Conservatives, the only Tories who
dared tread north of the border were
those heading for the grouse moors.
Indeed, any Jock who hoped to return
from the bar with a tray of drinks – or front
teeth – intact would no sooner have admit-
ted back then to voting Conservative than
they would have worn tinted moisturiser.
Davidson transformed her party’s toxic
image through sheer force of personality
alone. That bubbly demeanour, that person-
able charm, that ‘och, get on with yers’ atti-
tude. Faced with the choice of splitting a
six-pack of McEwan’s with her or Nicola
Sturgeon, I know who most would pick.
So witnessing Davidson announce in a
cramped Edinburgh conference room that
she was quitting was a dispiriting sight.
There were no jokes, no customary vine-
gary asides aimed at her pinched First
Minister opponent.
Not even a flash of that signature smile. It
seemed almost unnatural. Chirpy dolphin
goes morose. Much-loved comedienne
demands to be taken seriously.
what with her funereal tone and the tim-
ing of resignation, just a day after Boris
Johnson’s announcement to prorogue Par-
liament, many of us watching expected
fireworks. She and Johnson are not exactly
political bedfellows, so to speak.
An avowed European, Davidson’s views
germinate from the centre ground, in west-
minster terms at any rate.
But anyone hoping she would wield her
Claymore aggressively in the PM’s direc-
tion was disappointed.
Her anti-No Deal views, she conceded, havenever been a secret. But she was ‘four-square
behind’ Boris Johnson. She had ‘looked him
right in the eye,’ she told supporters, and
received assurance he was determined to
wrangle a deal out of Brussels. I’m sure John-
son has told a fair few whoppers in his time
while staring people in the eye but I suppose
we must trust her judgment.S
HE referred to her eight years in
charge of the Scottish Tories as the
‘privilege of my life’. Her proudest
political achievement, she declared,
was helping keep Scotland in the Union.
would the Remain campaign have won
the 2014 referendum without Ruth banging
the anti-independence drum? Doubtful.
The biggest change in her life has been
starting a family.
Last October, she gave birth to son Finn,
whom she shares with her partner Jen.
Having fought as leader in seven national
elections and two referenda, she was pain-
fully aware what another campaign would
mean for her home-life.
‘The threat of spending hundreds of hours
away from them fills me with dread,’ sheadmitted. Being a good leader had made her
a ‘poor daughter, sister, partner and friend’.
Normally when politicians whinge about
the ‘work/life balance’, I tend to roll my eyes
and switch off. But Ruth is that rare beastie
in politics. She does personal very well. And
to moaning minnie Remainers still trying to
scupper Brexit, she had a message: You blew
it by not voting for Theresa May’s deal.
‘Three times you had an open goal gaping in
front of you and each time you hit the bar.’
Oh she does love a footballing analogy
does Ruth. Her dad, Douglas, played for
Partick Thistle.
If Boris Johnson can return from Brussels
with a deal, she implored: ‘For God’s sake
get behind it!’
There were no tears. You don’t get to be a
lesbian leader of the Scottish Conserva-
tives without developing a rhino-like skin.
In the meantime, she would continue on
her duties as Tory Member of the Scottish
Parliament for Edinburgh Central.
Unusually, she finished with a heartfelt
thanks to the gathered journalists. ‘Not
just for today but for the past eight years.’
Cripes, you very rarely get politicians
speaking to the Press like that. Ah, lovely
Ruth, what a tonic you’ve been.the Prime Minister’s attempts to
bring back a deal that can pass in
the House of Commons,’ she said.
She added: ‘For all the elaborate
plans of bringing down govern-
ments and installing Ken Clarke
and Harriet Harman as a sort of
job-share prime minister, the sim-
ple way to avoid No Deal is to vote
for [a deal].’ Miss Davidson’s directstyle and charisma helped turn
around Tory fortunes in Scotland
by delivering 13 MPs at the last
election, who were crucial in keep-
ing Jeremy Corbyn out of No 10.
A very modern Conservative, she
is a former BBC presenter, a
church-going lesbian with a sense
of humour bluer than her partyrosette, and a Scottish Protestant
who fell in love with an Irish Cath-
olic, her partner Jen wilson.
Her deputy Jackson Carlaw, seen
as a safe pair of hands, will take
over while the Scottish member-
ship looks for a new figurehead.
That will be no mean feat. In many
regards, Davidson was the Scot-tish Tories. Election leaflets largely
consisted of her name and face
and polls routinely found her far
more popular than her party.
Downing Street sources acknowl-
edged that the timing of Miss Dav-
idson’s departure was ‘not ideal’.
Mr Johnson last night paid trib-
ute to her ‘incredible leadership’,saying she had been ‘instrumental’
in turning round the party’s for-
tunes. It is understood she had
been thinking about her position
for the last year.
She said that while ‘work has
always come first’, the arrival of
her son Finn meant she was mak-
ing a ‘different choice’.‘Humour bluer than
her party rosette’stint as Tory leader at Holyrood had been
the ‘privilege of my life’. But she admitted
she had felt ‘conflict’ over the party’s direc-
tion on Brexit, and wanted to spend more
time with her ten-month-old son Finn.
Miss Davidson’s decision to quit, which
leaked on wednesday night, dismayed Tory
moderates who had viewed her as a poten-
tial leader of the national party. Sources
said she would not stand for Parliament at
a snap election in the coming months but
refused to rule out a bid to relocate to
westminster at a future election.
Yesterday she said she had stared Mr
Johnson ‘right in the eye’, and was con-
vinced he was genuine in trying to secure a
deal with Brussels. Speaking at a press
conference in Edinburgh she said that MPs
opposed to No Deal could not afford to
miss their chance again as they did three
times by rejecting Theresa May’s plans.
‘I stand absolutely four-square behindGoing... An emotional Ruth Davidson yesterday Going... Eyes down as she confirms she’s quitting Gone! She ruffles her hair during press conference