Why the YEs movement should accept (some) Conservatives

Not all Tories are Evil

The Conservative and Unionist party is not monolithic. It consists of a number of layers some of which are less corrupt and authoritarian than the Westminster mafia

The government

In cesspools the biggest lumps float to the top, as can be seen with the raw sewage this Tory government lets water companies discharge into the sea.

The largest lumps in Westminster are the Tory government. They seem beyond any hope of redemption, so rich they cannot understand what anyone who is not a billionaire or millionaire goes through every day, especially not those on minimum wages or benefits.

They may feel they are doing the best for the country, but their country is themselves, Tory donors, and the aristocracy.

Even the prospect of eternal Tory rule in England will not make them support independence for Scotland. Being unionist they believe the four nations of the UK no longer exist and are anti-English, anti-Scottish, anti Welsh and anti-Irish and fear the loss of their Scottish estates.

Tory MPs

Below this layer is the parliamentary conservative party, back bench MPs on salaries that seem like unbounded wealth to the plebs they think they rule, together with concessions on council tax and expense accounts denied to the man in the street. Some expenses, such as running a constituency office are legitimate but they claim expenses that nobody else who works away from home can.

Many MPs have second jobs, sometimes paying much more than their enormous MP’s salary: in which case being an MP is a side job. Their private sectir employers want the political connections not the person: sometimes the MP they have bought lobbies for their employer who happily pays large sums for very little actual work (something that is not supposed to happen in a free market neoliberal capitalist economy).

Generally speaking backbenchers are catchfarts, voting unthinkingly for the layer above. Some are good constituency MPs and even disagree with the government policy of the day as mumbled by Boris “Corkscrew” Johnson, the Prime Minister who enjoys a problematic relationship with truth if not reality.

This layer may not, apart from Welsh and Cornish MPs care whether the UK comes to an end as long as they keep their first and second jobs, but their instinct is to oppose Scottish Independence. They need to be convinced that they will lose votes or their party will lose power and remain out of power as long as Scotland is in the United Kingdom.

Conservative Party members

Mostly harmless, but there is a fairly constant ebb and flow between the right wing of the Tory party and parties that can most charitably be called proto-fascist. They may turn up at conferences and attend fringe meetings. Some may actually want Scotland to leave the UK but dare not say so.

Conservative Voters

Brexit has swelled the ranks of Tory voters in England, though the party remains toxic in Scotland. Some would support Scotland leaving the now Disunited Kingdom. Some would oppose it because they love the Queen, though not necessarily the Monarchy or her eldest son. Some would be against it because they have relatives in England and some because of business interests.

This group is most likely to provide covert independence supporters who may actually vote YES in the privacy of the polling booth.

Brexit has shifted the Tory vote even further to the right. Vilifying all tory voters will only entrench their views.

Anyone claiming to be a Tory voter and a YES voter should be cautiously welcomed into the movement.

The Wrap

The YES movement must clarify that 99% of the time their bile is directed against the Westminster Government, who spew raw sewage daily into a compliant media and the mindless back bench apparatchik MPs who prop up the government either from fear or desire for promotion.

We will get independence when the Westminster parties think it to their advantage. One way this will happen is if there is a strong desire in South Britain for South Britain to become independent of the UK. Unfortunately no political party wants England – which no longer exists according to unionists – to leave the UK.

Tarring all Tories with the same brush will be counter productive, the tribal nature of Scottish politics will work against Independence and may help prevent it.