The Tories blatant appeal to sectarianism

By Marjorie Smith

Did anybody notice Conservative candidate Ruth Davidson's appearance on the BBC 10:00 o'clock news this evening (Friday 06/11). She is fighting a forlorn campaign, on behalf of the Tories, in the ex-Speaker, Michael Martin's old constituency,Glasgow North East.

However, One aspect of the coverage of her her campaign was extremely disturbing and very illuminating. Like all political parties, the current trend to cope with TV reporters ambushing candidates is for party activists is to donut the candidate with big cardboard party symbols so as to block out negative posters from the opposition. Nothing wrong with that in normal circumstances, all parties do it as they become more sophisticated about how their candidate is presented in the media.

What the Tories have done, though, with their posters is utterly repugnant, in terms of appealing to base instincts in the constituency, in order to boost the national narrative about the, allegedly, resurgent Tory party. Of all the cities in the UK (besides Belfast and Derry), Glasgow is a significant centre of religious sectarianism, in which symbols that proclaim the divide, have huge political impact.

It is into this febrile electoral campaign that an obviously co-ordinated Tory Central Office campaign run from London (the Tories' political PR people are the true heirs of Mandelson) thought up the Tories' chosen backdrop whenever, their candidate was 'doorstepped' by local TV cameras.

Perversely, for this part of Glasgow, the Conservative Party brand (good enough for any election in England) had morphed into;

Ruth Davidson

Conservative and UNIONIST PARTY (my emphasis)

The Unionist tag would never be used in a marginal seat in England or Wales

There is only one extremely pernicious reason to add the Unionist party tag on in this election and that is to appeal to the worst religious sectarian elements in the constituency. Glasgow is still a city divided by religion and the symbolic use of unionism is designed to appeal an element of the electorate who will respond to such use of dog-whistle politics.

The present-day Tory party are as shameless as any of their predecessors in their naked pursuit of power, it's just all the more galling that their supposed sophisticated PR machine wil use almost naked religious sectarianism in Glasgow, confident that the London-based media will fail to highlight their blatant hypocrisy.