JAMIE STONE: Voters don't want division, as history tells us
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Jamie's Journal by Jamie Stone
There was a time, eight years ago, when "I'm with Nicola" T-shirts were everywhere along with all sorts of merchandise extolling Ms Sturgeon's virtues. A cult of the time? I would say so.
A Scottish MP and friend of mine was defending his seat in the 2015 election only to be told on the doorsteps that the household was "voting for Nicola".
"But Nicola Sturgeon's not on the ballot paper for this constituency?" This made no difference... he lost his seat.
In fact, the SNP took every single seat in Scotland, bar three. One for each of the other parties. It was an astonishing result.
Now before I go any further, let me say that my own party know about success and failure. If I turn the history book back to 1906, the Liberal party swept the country in a truly historic general election.
They were almighty, unstoppable, sweeping everything before them. And yet, only 10 years later in 1916, the Liberal party became two internal factions. One headed by the previous Prime Minister HH Asquith, and the other led by David Lloyd-George.
Nominally, the two factions were members of the same party but the internal strife ultimately led to the near destruction of the Liberal party and its virtual oblivion until the late 20th century.
So what I would like to say has to be held up against this light: My party has the T-shirt, not with Nicola on it, but with Asquith on one side and Lloyd-George on the other.
From the Nicola cult eight years ago, we have seen an astonishing transformation of a once powerful party into what can be seen as an ever-looser confederation of two tribes bitterly at war. Humza Yousaf may have won the keys to Bute House, but there can be no doubt that his party is deeply divided as to what sort of party it is.
Are we talking about social liberalism, as exemplified by the continuity candidate Yousaf, or about something further to the right, as was offered by Forbes?
The truth of it is that it's likely both, united only by a belief in independence. And when that uniting factor is put aside for a moment – say during a cost-of-living crisis or a war on our European doorstep – the left and right of the same party suddenly remember all of the many things they vehemently disagree on, and remind the rest of us how truly incompatible these factions are.
What we can be sure of is written in black and white in the history book I referred to earlier. Time and time again, the electorate has revealed that it does not care for divided parties. It could be argued that Boris's bold "Get Brexit done" agenda did offer a form of unity to the Conservatives in 2019 and that is why they won the victory they did.
It's part of our psyche, isn't it? Schism is unappealing. Squabbling in ivory towers becomes insufferable as ordinary citizens find their lives becoming ever more challenging. Health, education, transport – and even potholes – are the things that matter on doorsteps.
Harold Wilson said "a week is a long time in politics". Well, I can tell you that eight years is so very much longer. From the "I'm with Nicola" cult to what? I suppose we are about to find out...
- Jamie Stone is the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
