Scotland threatens Boris Johnson’s election dream
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
August 11, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022
Scotland threatens Boris Johnson’s election dream

Politics

BSS/AFP
03 December, 2019, 11:05 am
Last modified: 03 December, 2019, 11:39 am

Related News

  • Race to be next UK prime minister closer than thought, poll shows
  • UK defence minister Wallace endorses Truss for PM
  • As party members decide, Truss has upper hand in contest to be Britain's new PM
  • Ukrainians sign petition to give citizenship, PM role to UK's Johnson
  • Policy views of final two candidates in race to succeed UK's Boris Johnson

Scotland threatens Boris Johnson’s election dream

Surprise victories in Scotland helped save the Conservative Party in the 2017 election

BSS/AFP
03 December, 2019, 11:05 am
Last modified: 03 December, 2019, 11:39 am
Conservative Party leadership candidate Boris Johnson reacts during the launch of his campaign in London, Britain June 12, 2019/ Reuters
Conservative Party leadership candidate Boris Johnson reacts during the launch of his campaign in London, Britain June 12, 2019/ Reuters

Surprise victories in Scotland helped save the Conservative Party in the 2017 election but Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in danger of losing those gains next week, forcing him to look elsewhere for a parliamentary majority.

"This time is going to be very, very tight," Stephen Kerr, the Conservative MP for the Stirling constituency, in central Scotland, told AFP.

The Tories snatched the seat from the Scottish National Party in 2017, with a majority of just 148.

Kerr now runs the risk of losing it in the December 12 vote, like many of the 12 other Scottish Conservatives who made spectacular gains two years ago, largely thanks to the party's then-leader in Scotland, Ruth Davidson.

"With Davidson, we went not only from one MP to 13 MPs, but we went from about 100 councillors to 300 in local government," Kerr added, as he prepared to go out campaigning. "The Tory revival in Scotland in 2017… saved Theresa May's skin," said Politico's Charlie Cooper, allowing the then-PM to cling to power, despite losing her majority in parliament. Two years on, the Conservatives could see their success disappear into the mist.

Scottish results "could be the difference between a Johnson majority and a hung parliament," added Cooper.

Whisky and William Wallace

Johnson will no longer be able to count on the charismatic Davidson's talents following her resignation in August for personal reasons.

She was a vocal opponent of Brexit, which is unpopular in Scotland despite Johnson's efforts to convince those north of the border with England that it will benefit them.

One of the prime minister's first campaign events was a visit to a whisky distillery in Moray, northeast Scotland.

Among copper stills, he promised that, after Brexit, the tariffs imposed on whisky and other European products by the United States would no "longer be applied to this country".

But on the streets of Stirling voters do not appear to have warmed to Johnson.

Stirling is a castle-filled constituency that starts just north of Glasgow to the west and Edinburgh to the east, stretching up through the Trossachs National Park into the Highlands.

The city itself was one of the scenes of the medieval struggle for independence popularised by the film "Braveheart".

The monument to the 13th-century Scottish independence hero and scourge of the English, William Wallace, is a major tourist attraction overlooking the city.

"Conservative is wrong," said Gary Tasker, a 48-year-old landscape gardener, calling them "a rich people's party".

"Most of the people in Stirling are working class," he added.

Retired hospital worker Dorian, 70, said: "To be honest with you, I just cut it off altogether and I don't even think I'm going to vote this year.

"I don't think anyone represents Scotland in (the British parliament in) Westminster."

Tory image problem

With the SNP gunning for Stirling, the Tories are also under threat in the fishing communities of northeast Scotland.

They initially supported Britain's departure from the European Union in the hope that the end of EU quotas would boost their business, said Michael Keating, at the University of Aberdeen.

"They are beginning to realise that they have very little to gain from Brexit because they sell 85 percent of their catch into the European Union," said Keating, a specialist in Scottish politics.

He says it is "difficult to see where" Johnson can compensate for these losses, other than in the struggling "post-industrial constituencies" of northern England.

These traditional bastions of the main opposition Labour party voted largely in favour of Brexit. The December 12 election will put their historical allegiances to the test.

The Tories, according to the centre-right think tank Onward, are banking on winning over so-called "Workington man" — an older, white, northern English non-graduate who voted for Brexit.

"It is in these northern towns that voters will give Boris Johnson his Christmas victory, or hand him a lump of coal," Will Tanner, director of Onward, recently wrote.

Conservatives are as a result focused on winning those areas while at the same time trying not to lose their Scottish seats.

But for Kevin McKenna, a political commentator for the Scottish newspapers The Herald and The National, Johnson's image presents as much as a problem as Brexit.

"To many Scottish voters he represents a particular type of English conservatism that is unpalatable to them: arrogant, entitled and elitist," he warned.

World+Biz / Top News

Boris Johnson / scotland / UK election

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Infograph: TBS
    Control on liquor import boosts local Carew sales
  • Debapriya Bhattacharya. TBS Sketch
    Transitional policy understanding necessary for economic recovery: CPD
  • HC asks why govt didn't ask for info from Swiss bank
    HC asks why govt didn't ask for info from Swiss bank

MOST VIEWED

  • Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak walks for a radio interview in London, Britain, July 14, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville
    'I would rather lose than...': Rishi Sunak on UK prime minister race
  • Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb. PHOTO: APP
    All doors shut on foreign aided party PTI: Pak Info Minister
  • Plastic letters arranged to read "Inflation" are placed on US Dollar banknote in this illustration taken, June 12, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    Geopolitics lurks beneath markets' still waters
  • U.S. President Joe Biden attends a press conference at Akasaka guest house, in Tokyo, Japan, May 23, 2022. Nicolas Datiche/Pool via REUTERS
    Biden 'concerned' as China extends military drills around Taiwan
  • The People's Republic of China flag and the US flag fly on a lamp post along Pennsylvania Avenue near the US Capitol in Washington during then-Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit, January 18, 2011. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang/File Photo
    US-China relationship bleeds by a thousand cuts
  • FILE PHOTO: Colombia's President-elect Gustavo Petro speaks after receiving the credential as elected president from Colombia's National Electoral Council, in Bogota, Colombia June 23, 2022. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez/File Photo
    Leftist Petro takes office in Colombia amid economic, social challenges

Related News

  • Race to be next UK prime minister closer than thought, poll shows
  • UK defence minister Wallace endorses Truss for PM
  • As party members decide, Truss has upper hand in contest to be Britain's new PM
  • Ukrainians sign petition to give citizenship, PM role to UK's Johnson
  • Policy views of final two candidates in race to succeed UK's Boris Johnson

Features

Shafia Siddiqi (left) and Simran Akter (right). Photo: Noor A Alam

Big dreams in small rooms: The aspiring nurses of Geneva Camp

1h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How to deal with toxic people at work

2h | Pursuit
Women were more likely to report leaving the workforce between March 2020 and September 2021 than their male counterparts. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Being single and smart is bad for your career if you are a woman

2h | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

Removal of Treasury chiefs: Panic or justified?

3h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Is this a new horizon in medical science?

Is this a new horizon in medical science?

3h | Videos
Can sleep help you become successful?

Can sleep help you become successful?

3h | Videos
Military drills to prepare invasion, says Taiwan

Military drills to prepare invasion, says Taiwan

4h | Videos
Salimullah Khan on Ahmad Safa's thinking on nature

Salimullah Khan on Ahmad Safa's thinking on nature

15h | Videos

Most Read

1
Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 
Banking

Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 

2
Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46
Energy

Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46

3
Photo: Collected
Transport

Will Tokyo’s traffic model solve Dhaka’s gridlocks?

4
Infographic: TBS
Banking

Dollar rate will be left to market after two months: Governor

5
Arrest warrant against Habib Group chairman, 4 others 
Crime

Arrest warrant against Habib Group chairman, 4 others 

6
File Photo: State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid
Energy

All factories to remain closed once a week under rationing system

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]