A Place to Stand

  This letter went out to all and sundry and was published by the Courier today. The Courier seems to be changing its name to the "Scotland Courier" which may explain it or it may be the mention of local boy made good Adam Smith.

One problem which has been highlighted by Murdo Fraser's opponents in the campaign for Conservative leader is that even if he won it would take a 2/3rds majority to wind up the party and that might not be forthcoming.

However I believe the Conservative's opponents have long ago answered that. The Co-Operative Party is both part of the Labour Movement and a legally separate organisation but the distinction on the ground effectively non-existent.

This may seem an historical anachronism though occasionally they have threatened to make use of it, in a less than ethical way, by renaming Labour regional list candidates.

At least in the short term, it would be then be easier to attract groups, such as UKIP to form a "big tent" organisation of people who think market freedom is more effective than windmillery and the "socialism" Labour, the SNP & Greens are officially committed to (the LibDems being merely committed to the weird doctrine that economic liberalism is officially "illiberal"). With 5 elected parties in Scotland there must be a niche for one that understands Adam Smith.

Sir John Cowperthwaite understood enough to bring Hong Kong from poorer than Gaza to richer than Britain and I do not believe that tradition entirely gone or suitable only for export.

     The editing is reasonable. While I like Cowperthwaite as a counter example to the claim that modern Scotland is inherently socialist it is very much out of left field. The suggestion that UKIP might be willing to enter a "big tent" is very much my own, undiscussed with anybody in it, but we aren't the Judean People's Liberation Front.