The Scottish Liberal Democrats aren’t best known for their ability to grab headlines – but today the spotlight is on them. At the group’s spring conference in Inverness, leader Alex Cole-Hamilton this afternoon unveiled the latest addition to the party: the ex-Tory MSP who dramatically quit the Conservatives on Thursday after blasting their ‘Trump-esque’ style. Talk about a quick turnaround, eh?
Emerging from the shadows, Jamie Greene MSP joked with the Lib Dem membership: ‘I’m not sure who’s more surprised to see me here – me or you!’ Going on, the former Conservative politician and onetime leadership hopeful told his crowd that he had gone from being ‘politically homeless in the last 24 hours to a new home’. Quick to blast the direction his former party had move in, Greene insisted:
Right wing populism and the scapegoating of people must be fought against and be defeated… No one should ever be afraid to speak their mind… We must bring back decency, tolerance and respect into Scottish politics. It must do better.
Urging disillusioned Conservatives to jump ship with him, the parliamentarian added:
Many of you have written to me these past 24 hours – simply scunnered with the endless culture wars and fringe issues that my former party has become obsessed with… If you too want to fight the Trumpism that has appeared in our political backers, if you feel the same way as I do, then there’s a home for you!
It follows Greene’s scathing resignation letter on Thursday to Conservative group leader Russell Findlay, in which the ex-Tory accused his former colleagues of ‘chasing’ Reform votes. Taking to Twitter to post a copy of his statement under an Eleanor Roosevelt quote, Greene warned the Scottish Tories that in pursuing a ‘Reform-lite agenda’ they were running ‘the very serious and immediate risk of becoming once again the party of social division and morality wars’. Ouch.
Welcoming his newest recruit into the fold, Sir Ed Davey applauded Greene’s decision before quipping in characteristic Lib Dem style that after the speeches he’ll get ‘measured for his wetsuit’ and choose his paddle board. More cryptically, the leader of the UK Lib Dems remarked that Greene is just the latest Scot to jump ship to his party from the Tories. Greene’s move leaves with the Conservatives with 30 MSPs while the Lib Dems up their Holyrood total to five. Could there be more defections yet? Stay tuned…
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