Ruth Davidson Has Had Enough...

[Gromit]

...quitting as leader in Scotland.

[jourdain2]

This is probably politically incorrect - but when I gave birth to my first-born all ambition deserted me. ALL I wanted was to stay at home and nurture her. Things change as the child gets older. So I think that one can't argue purely on politics in this case.

[jim360]

A lot will depend on the speech tomorrow. Perhaps jourdain will be right and it will be a gracious speech about wanting to spend more time with her family, etc -- and why not? -- or perhaps it will be far more politically charged. Could be huge, if so.

[anneasquith]

Whatever her speech contains , it will be long and boring. What she wishes to say could take five minutes, but in true RD fashion will take an hour. Loves the sound of her own voice .

[ichkeria]

I don’t think it’ll be boring.
I also don’t think it’s politically incorrect to say her decision might just be family related.
But whatever the reasons, it surely does not make defending 13 Scottish Tory seats any easier.

[douglas9401]

She's gone.

[anneasquith]

She has. Not her usual happy clappy persona.

[hereIam]

Cheerio !

[Jackdaw33]

Another would-be backstabber bites the dust. Carry on, Boris, you're doing great so far.

[naomi24]

Who noticed?

[jim360]

Quite a few people in Scotland. And England might too, as it was in large part down to her that the Tories won anything in Scotland, and in turn were able to form any kind of government in 2017. To say nothing of her work towards keeping the UK together.

You might not miss her now, but you will soon.

[naomi24]

Jim, if you're talking to me, you're mistaken. I won't miss her at all.

[brainiac]

Who's the daddy? Have we been told?

[Old_Geezer]

Time will tell. After Brexit one might think that maybe the public would consider those who finally got us past the indecision/uncertainty period were worth keeping on, and those proven to want to ignore the public still unfit to govern. As for seceding, one hopes and trusts the folk who realised it was an awful option the last time they were asked would know it's no better at whenever point in the far future they consider the matter again. (Knee jerk reactions to not getting their own way presently would just lead to acting in haste and repenting at leisure.)

[jim360]

Well, it's also addressed to anyone here who is both nominally a Tory supporter and scornful of her significance. But the simple fact is that when people here were crowing about how the Tories won in 2017, despite losing their majority, the fact that they were able to turn that "win" into a functional government is down to Ruth Davidson. She made Conservatism acceptable in Scotland.

Ironically, that means that it suits me rather a lot more to see her gone. Maybe that's the biggest reason I can think of why you might want to reconsider, in the near future, whether or not you really didn't miss her.

There's something vaguely troubling to see the scorn and perhaps even the contempt for someone who, while she may not have agreed with you about Brexit, was still more or less on your side on most other things. (And, again, by "you" I mean everyone responding in the same way.)

[naomi24]

Jim, If she's gone she's gone - and if that turns out to be detrimental to my political choice, so be it. I accept legitimate results.

[jim360]

At to OG's post: Davidson has had no interest in stopping Brexit: she's never backed calls for a second referendum*, she spent her time yesterday urging anti-No Deal MPs to find a route that doesn't end up with what would ultimately mean revoking Article 50. Yes, she voted Remain, and yes, like most Remain supporters she remains unconvinced by the project. But supporting the idea of reaching a withdrawal agreement, of some form, with the EU is categorically not "ignor[ing] the public".

It's astonishing that a No Deal Exit, which was in 2016 at best a threat that was dismissed, rather than a promise to be embraced, has suddenly become the only acceptable form of Brexit to the exclusion of all else.

*I suspect that a good deal of her opposition to a second referendum on the EU question is rooted in her desire to avoid a second referendum on Scottish independence -- clearly, supporting the first would destroy any possible opposition to the second -- but still. A backstabber Davidson is not. In her letter today she expressed her concerns, but urged people to back Boris Johnson in his pursuit of a new Brexit Deal.

[Old_Geezer]

I have no idea of her particular voting record, but consider all those (especially MPs) still wishing and acting to delay or stop Brexit as ignoring the public, since the public view was made at the referendum. Unsure that I know anyone who in 2016 considered no-deal either just a threat, or promise. It was a possibility then and still a possibility now. The only difference being that most thought it unlikely then, but near certain now. (Largely because of dissent from some citizens and politicians regarding the Brexit decision, thus convincing the EU that it didn't have to compromise to accommodate necessary requirements as the UK were still arguing whether to accept the referendum result or pervert it.)