Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Diary – 1 June 2017

Also in Fraser Nelson’s Diary: Barack Obama keeps his audience hungry; Hilary Mantel on how much she invents

In such gorgeous weather the best part of Scotland to visit is not (as so many seem to think) the West Highlands but my native north-east. Moray, a region of whisky and white beaches, has long been the country’s best-kept secret, but it has become rather spoiled of late by its new status as a battleground seat. Plenty of its SNP supporters voted for Brexit, leading to a conflict of loyalties that seems to have been resolved in favour of the Tories. They almost won the council last month and if they take the constituency they’ll depose Angus Robertson, leader of the SNP in Westminster. Nicola Sturgeon is worried enough to come up and offer her support. The venue: a café near Lossiemouth beach, where the First Minister will walk in and talk to pensioners about their concerns. But they’re hardly passersby: the SNP has taken over the whole café and filled it with activists. Ms Sturgeon arrives to regale them, give her benediction to their children and tell them that the wicked Tories want rid of Mr Robertson because he is so effective at Westminster. After making disobliging comments about Jeremy Corbyn for the television cameras, she’s off. It’s a strange kind of campaigning: turning up to be adored by one set of fans, then moving on to be adored by another set. But as Robertson tells me later, at least the SNP have supporters, lots of them, in every town.

At my next stop, in Buckie, I’m surprised to come across Michael Gove. He is from nearby Aberdeen, to be sure, but not exactly local. Then I recognise another activist: it’s Brooks Newmark, who had to stand down as an MP after being caught sending indecent pictures of himself on social media. And here is the Conservatives’ problem: they don’t have the troops, not on the SNP’s scale.

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