Ruth Davidson's Conservatives: The Scottish Tory Party, 2011-19

David Torrance

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Year: 2020
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9781474455640
• Subtopic: Conservatism & Liberalism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Examining the startling revival of the Scottish Conservative Party under Ruth Davidson's leadership Key features First book to examine the recent revival of the Scottish Conservative PartyAnalyses the Scottish Conservative Party and Ruth Davidson's leadership in ground-breaking ways, for example in the context of gender and LGBT politics; its relationships with the SNP, Northern Ireland, the Scottish media and the UK Tory Party; its use of Scottish national identity in promoting itself electorallyComplements and updates David Torrance's 2012 edited volume for Edinburgh University Press on the decline of the party, Whatever Happened to Tory Scotland?Helps inform Scottish political and academic discourse ahead of the 2021 Holyrood elections When Ruth Davidson was elected leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party in 2011, it was considered something of a joke: in electoral decline for decades, politically irrelevant and apparently beyond the point of no return. But by 2017, 'Ruth Davidson's Conservatives' had become Scotland's second party at Holyrood and Westminster, and its leader spoken of as a future leader of the UK Conservative Party, if not the next Scottish First Minister. This book, which brings together leading academics and analysts, examines the extraordinary revival of the Scottish Conservative Party between 2011 and Ruth Davidson's shock resignation in 2019. Contributors look at the importance of gender and sexuality, the 2014 independence referendum, the Scottish media and the UK Conservative Party's 'territorial code' to the changing fortunes of the party and its leader, asking if it can be sustained amid the turbulence of two ongoing constitutional debates.

Table of contents

• List of Tables
• Notes on the Contributors
• Introductory Note
• ONE / ‘Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives’, 2011–19
• TWO / Tory Revival in Scotland? Recent Evidence, Future Prospects
• THREE / ‘We’ in Scotland or ‘She’ in Scotland? Scottish Conservative Manifesto Discourse during the Davidson Era
• FOUR / ‘Standing up for Scotland’ at Westminster?
• FIVE / The Scottish Conservatives and Local Government
• SIX / ‘A lesbian with family values’: Gender and Sexuality in Ruth Davidson’s Leadership of the Contemporary
• SEVEN / Riding the Unionist Wave: Ruth Davidson, the Media and the Re-emergence of the Scottish Conservatives
• EIGHT / The Conservative ‘Territorial Code’ under Strain
• NINE / The Scottish Conservative Party and the Three Unionisms
• TEN / Scottish Conservatism and Northern Ireland: Mapping an Ambivalent Relationship
• ELEVEN / The Scottish Conservatives and Europe: The Reluctant Brexit Party
• TWELVE / A Tale of Two Nationalisms: Scottish Nationalism and Unionism in the Age of Disruption
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index