Is this the new-found Tory respect for devolution? The Herald reports that Annabel Goldie will be invited to attend Shadow Cabinet meetings in London - once a month. They just don't get it, do they? The logic of devolution is that Goldie is an autonomous party leader in her own right, not some ultra-junior, part-time member of someone else's Shadow Cabinet. And I can't help wondering if this arrangement will work a bit like the participation of Scottish ministers in EU negotiations - will Goldie have to agree a joint line with David Mundell first, and will she require his permission to speak?
Of course if there was any natural justice in this world it would be the other way round, and if Annabel refused Mundell permission to speak our ears could all have a well-earned rest.
The logic of devolution is that Goldie is an autonomous party leader in her own right
ReplyDeleteThe logic of devolution is that power is retained at the centre.
Annabel Goldie is not an autonomous party leader, she leads the Scottish regional wing of the British Conservative Party.
Check out the entry for the British Conservative and Unionist Party on the Electoral Commission website and you'll find that the phrase, "Scottish Conservative and Unionist", is just an alternative description that the British Conservative Party are allowed to use on their election literature.
There is no "Scottish" Conservative Party and by attending the Shadow Cabinet meetings as a junior member simply reflects the true status as a regional deputy of the Conservatives in Scotland.
Not that the Conservatives are unique in this as there is no distinct Scottish Labour or Scottish Lib-Dem party either if you check out the Labour and Lib-Dem entries.