Friday 11 November 2011

Counting Past 10 is Not Ruth’s Forte


It would appear that when it comes to dodgy arithmetic, the Coalition’s cartoon character in Scotland, Michael Moore, has competition from the new Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson.

After receiving her inaugural orders from David Cameron, reiterating the independence of the Scottish Conservatives by saying that she would do nothing that the leader might disapprove of and regurgitating the same old message that has seen Tories decimated in Scotland; she proclaimed to the world that she had a mandate to speak for the people of Scotland.


Before you waste any time wondering how she worked that one out, let me explain.

She claimed that the Coalition parties had won more votes at the UK General election in Scotland than the SNP did to win their historic majority at Holyrood. As such, she spoke for the nation.

But alas for Ms Davidson, in the undoubted excitement of having an audience with her hero, got it wrong.

For the record, the combined vote for the Tories and Lib-Dems in Scotland at the General Election was 878,326 which was 35.6% of the popular vote. In the elections for Holyrood the SNP polled 902,915 or 45.5% of the vote.

Not hard to work out who got more, you’ll agree.

While a competent grasp of numeracy might not have been required in a previous life as a journalist at BBC Scotland, it is generally thought to be a prerequisite of a sitting politician and party leader.

That aside, adding the votes of those who opposed you during an election after they join you in a coalition is surely a sign of desperation. I’m pretty sure that those who supported the Lib-Dems certainly don’t want their votes propping up the inane and out of touch policies of the Scottish Tories.

Its early days yet but with a start like this, Ms Davidson and her inability to count past the  number 10, promises to entertain if not inspire.