Stephen Daisley

Thank God for the SNP. They may be whiny at times, populist all the time, and social authoritarians even in their sleep but they’re not Ukip. Whatever your constitutional politics or your thoughts on nationalism, we are blessed in Scotland to have a nationalist party that is driven more by jobs and public services thanContinue reading "Nigel Farage isn’t a racist but some of his best lines are"

Someone has drawn a cartoon and a lot of people are angry about it. Don't worry, it doesn't depict the Prophet Mohammed. No one needs to go into hiding. It's just a standard comic strip by the Guardian's Steve Bell and pokes fun at a couple of politicians. The strip shows Nicola Sturgeon and AlexContinue reading "Taking offence at a cartoon is a caricature of nationalism"

Ed Miliband is a much more impressive speaker in the flesh than he is on TV. That’s not much of an endorsement but it merits noting for what it says about the tyranny of the visual in our politics. Mr Miliband is sincere, bright, policy-focussed, and has ideas for achieving the kind of Britain heContinue reading "Two leaders but only one Prime Minister at Labour conference"

The latest glut of Lord Ashcroft polling data is nothing short of horrendous for Scottish Labour. It's also terrible for the Liberal Democrats but we don't have time to deal with their problems right now. The polling of five Labour-held seats, along with two Lib Dems constituencies and the sole Tory outpost in Scotland, showsContinue reading "Labour can only stand by and watch their electoral destruction"

Political parties, let alone incumbent ones, don't usually engage in public soul-searching ten weeks out from a general election. But with the ballot box looming, some of Britain's leading Tory commentators are wondering aloud if the Conservatives are on the (centre-)right path. This kind of discussion may seem irrelevant in Scotland where the Tories willContinue reading "Future of the Conservatives lies in being good, not just right"

At this point, politicians should just assume every lobbyist they meet is an undercover reporter from the Daily Telegraph. Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw have been secretly recorded by journalists, allegedly offering to use their positions to advance the interests of a (non-existent) Chinese company. In the video, Mr Straw is said to claim thatContinue reading "Rifkind and Straw scandal shows why we must pay MPs more"

The only things missing were the pom-poms. David Cameron came to Edinburgh to rally the Scottish Tory faithful, usually an unhappy task for a Conservative leader. The party has been in the doldrums north of the border for so long that Mr Cameron's predecessors have copied and pasted the same speech year after year. "TheContinue reading "David Cameron rallies the Tory faithful at conference"

Scottish Conservative leaders aren't obvious pioneers of same-sex equality. Ruth Davidson, however, isn't your average Scottish Conservative leader. The 36-year-old MSP for Glasgow has broken new ground with a party election broadcast featuring her partner Jen. The broadcast, released on Wednesday evening shows Ms Davidson and her partner out walking and spending time with theContinue reading "Scottish Tory leader introduces her same-sex partner in election ad"

Analysing Scottish Labour's standing in the opinion polls, the tagline from the 1974 horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre comes to mind: "Who will survive and what will be left of them?" According to Lord Ashcroft's landmark Scottish polling, the answer seems to be: Not many and not much. Make no mistake, the natureContinue reading "Will Scottish Labour survive and what will be left of it?"