Stephen Daisley

Amid the 56 SNP MPs descending on Westminster this week, one is standing out from the crowd. Mhairi Black sent shockwaves through the political establishment last Thursday when she ousted shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander. In doing so, she turned a 17,000 Labour majority into a 6000 edge for the Nationalists in Paisley and RenfrewshireContinue reading "The SNP’s Mhairi Black talks about her first few days at Westminster"

That the Union is living through perilous days is all but undetectable here in Westminster. Not a week since the air was thick with talk of coalitions, the only coalition in town is the one between David Cameron and his backbenchers. The SNP MPs sent down to "hold Westminster's feet to the fire" are busyContinue reading "The British political class returns to business as usual"

"This is a victory for the true believers." Paul Keating so described his Labor government's improbable triumph in the 1993 Australian election, which had been trailed by commentators and pollsters as "unloseable" for the centre-right Coalition. Calculating pragmatism brought Keating success over an ideologically lazy opposition whose leader spoke to his grassroots but could notContinue reading "Victories for the true believers but what about the dreamers?"

It was a tragic quest that could only really end in futility and failure. Ahab had his whale, Don Quixote his windmills, Fox Mulder his vast conspiracy between the CIA, alien shape-shifters, and that black oil they never really explained. For Jamie Ross, it was Solero Woman. Back during the 1999 Scottish Parliament election campaign,Continue reading "The woman who melted Jamie Ross’s heart"

Jim Murphy couldn't win his joust with Bernard Ponsonby on Wednesday night, whatever winning means in a Scotland unmoored from so many political certainties. If he had tried, he would have risked looking desperate. Pathetically straining for a game-changer in the dying days of the election campaign. No, the only thing for it was toContinue reading "If Jim Murphy fails it will be because Labour is beyond saving"

We all have an inheritance from our grandfathers. Some are tangible – a watch, a book, a rosary – while others are more ephemeral, like lessons learned, wisdom gifted, or fond recollections of family holidays. The stirring scent of aftershave or pipe tobacco, the taste of an old recipe, or the sound of a rust-bucketContinue reading "Rejecting Labour is spurning an inheritance from our grandfathers"

As campaign strategies go, it's certainly a novel one. In Edinburgh South, which voted No in September's referendum by 65% to 35%, SNP candidate Neil Hay has hit trouble. Under a pseudonymous account, "Paco McSheepie", which he ran in 2012, he tweeted the term "quisling" with reference to unionists and lamented that "umpteen poor soulsContinue reading "On quislings, ‘non-Scots’ and Scottish nationalism"

Mhairi Black is a nightmare to interview. We're walking along the Paisley side street where her campaign hub is based on Friday afternoon. It's an unusually warm and inviting day so how better to get a flavour of the electors' attitude towards the SNP candidate for Paisley and Renfrewshire South than by hitting the streetsContinue reading "Mademoiselle Ecosse goes to Westminster"