Sunak botches Scotland charm offensive as he fails to name any top Tories there

31 July 2023 , 21:30

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his visit to Shell St Fergus Gas Plant in Peterhead (Image: Euan Duff/PA Wire)

Rishi Sunak has been in Scotland trying to woo voters - but may have some work to do repairing hurt feelings among Scottish Tories.

The Prime Minister was unable to name any members of the Scottish Conservatives' top team when quizzed by journalists. He was challenged to name four members of Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross's cabinet - but failed to do so.

Instead he stammered that he had been Scotland "six times in the last 12 months" and met with Mr Ross and "multiple members of this team". The Conservatives are the second largest party in Holyrood, behind the SNP.

It fell to Scottish Secretary Alister Jack - who joined the PM in Aberdeenshire - to defend him, saying the question was "unfair" due to a recent "reshuffle". Had Mr Sunak kept up with events in Scotland, he would have known that Tory MSPs Jamie Greene and Stephen Kerr dropped from their roles as justice and education spokesmen.

Meanwhile Sue Webber's position as drugs policy spokeswoman was cut to expand the health brief. Mr Sunak responded to the question: "I think ... I'm seeing them all next door, actually... their team ... I think ... I've probably been here six times in the last twelve months and I've seen Douglas and met multiple members of this team during that period."

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Following Mr Jack's comments, he added: "He's literally just had a reshuffle, which is why I don't want to ... but I don't think anyone can say I'm not committed to working with Douglas when I've been here six times in the past 12 months, I'm seeing him again today."

Latest polling suggests the Conservatives would secure around 17% of the vote in a General Election, down from around 25% in 2020. The SNP are narrowly ahead with 37%, followed by Labour on around 34%, according to Survation.

The PM endured a difficult day which saw him have a bad-tempered exchange with a BBC journalist when asked why he'd taken a plane from London to announce his energy plan.

And Labour has had a dig after he posted a picture of himself in "Margaret Thatcher's Rover" at the weekend - only for it to emerge it was actually a police car in her security team. He told voters he was making changes that "are making a meaningful difference to people's lives in Scotland", and said he worked closely with Mr Ross and his team.

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Dave Burke