Goldie Lookin' Chained

I've been sitting on that headline for more than a year now, but I could equally have called this post "What is the point Annabel Goldie?" Whatever you thought of David McLetchie, he was moderately effective and at the height of his strength succeeded in bringing down Henry McLeish. Annabel Goldie wants to prop up Jack McConnell. But that's not all...

This could have, should have, been a bonanza week for the Tories: the 300th Anniversary of the Act of Union. Instead, we had David Cameron dragging his Shadow Cabinet up in Edinburgh (did anyone spot him being mobbed by a delirious crowd as Goldie predicted, incidentally? Let me know if you spotted him, with or without groupies) and saying very little except how the Tories have been rubbish in Scotland over the past few years. Oh, and Annabel Goldie appeared briefly on Newsnight.That was it.

Think about this: you have a Party that (officially, at least, but as we know, a number of Tory figures are starting to rethink this) is so supportive of the Union that its full name is "Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party". Where have they been? What's happened is that the bulk of the pro-Union commentary this week has been left to Labour. And what they produced wasn't so much praise for the Union as a list of everything that might go wrong in an independent Scotland, their discussions motivated not by genuinely staunch Unionism but by their fear and loathing of the SNP, and the prospect of losing seats in May.

So it's no surprise that with the Tories sinking even further into insignificance than they did when they had no MPs, someone has voiced an intention to challenge Annabel Goldie. It's not Murdo Fraser. It's not Alex Johnstone. It's not Ted Brocklebank or Bill Aitken. It's Peter Lyburn. Peter Lyburn, Conservative candidate in Dunfermline West. This man must clearly be optimistic of securing third place on the Mid Scotland & Fife Regional List (and even that may not be enough), as Dunfermline West isn't natural Conservative territory.

Lyburn says that the Tories need a more youthful image in Scotland. Goldie will simply say that he's entitled to his opinion but that she is still popular among Party members. The onslaught of public criticism that she's faced this month would suggest otherwise, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that it's a vocal minority. Even so, it's still a blow to her credibility. And this Leadership 'challenge' (he can't actually challenge her, but he has effectively called for her replacement) is a disaster: it's the Tories' 'Bill Wilson' moment (Bill Wilson was the SNP activist who challenged John Swinney for the Leadership in 2003), easy enough for the Leader to see off, but the fact that it has happened at all is still an embarrassment. The worst thing is, Wilson's challenge came in the wake of an awful election for the SNP. Lyburn's comments have come before the election. It looks like the death spiral of internecine warfare which has crippled the Tories for so long is back, and the outcome for them could be devastating.