Last summer the Pro UK cause was in trouble. The
opposition leaders at Holyrood were anonymous and ineffective. Nicola Sturgeon’s
popularity was increasing daily due to her being on TV every day with party
political broadcasts masquerading as Covid information briefings. Both the SNP
and Scottish independence were comfortably ahead in the polls. Many supposedly
Pro UK journalists were about ready to give up. If we surrender nicely Nicola
will you let us continue to write in an independent Scotland? But one man wasn’t
about to give up. That man was George Galloway.
All for Unity, originally founded by Mr Galloway as
Alliance for Unity was decisive in turning the mood around. The RAF roundel logo
began to appear regularly on social media. The SNP was the target and a few of
us began to strafe them with ever increasing accuracy. Behind the scenes a
group of some of the best Pro UK thinkers began to share ideas. We encouraged each
other when polling wasn’t so great. We devised strategies for taking on the
SNP. We were the opposition.
I began to write more as did people like Jill
Stephenson, Tom Gallagher, Jamie Blackett and Mark Devlin who founded the
brilliant Majority site (https://themajority.scot)
which has gained such valuable publicity with its #ResignSturgeon banners and fly
past. But none of us are exactly well known. We needed someone who could take
on Sturgeon. That person was George Galloway.
There are two problems with the opposition leadership
in Scotland. They are anonymous and useless. A year ago, Scottish Labour were led by
Richard Leonard now they are led by Anas Sarwar, but not one Scot in a hundred
could name both of them. The Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is more
famous for being a referee than for being a politician and has done little to
improve the chances of the Conservatives since taking over last year. Willie
Rennie of the Lib Dems has not obviously achieved anything since becoming
leader in 2016. Is it any wonder that recent polling says that George Galloway
is the best-known opposition politician in Scotland?
The poll, which was conducted between 4th March and 8th
March asked 1100 Scottish voters about the best known Scottish opposition
politician. George Galloway came out ahead of Douglas Ross, Anas Sarwar,
Willie Rennie and the others. This is all the more remarkable because All for
Unity has barely been mentioned in the press or on TV since it was founded. It has
been as if there has been a coordinated effort to protect the established parties
or rather to protect the SNP.
Holyrood has become a cosy club where everyone has a
comfortable, not too difficult job and where preserving your salary and perks
appears to be more important than actually getting rid of the SNP. It is this
above all that Mr Galloway wants to change. If you think Nicola Sturgeon gets a
hard time in Holyrood now, just wait until you see the man who took on the US Senate
and won, eat Sturgeon rather than kippers for breakfast.
Mr Galloway rightly points out that the Scottish
nationalists fear him the most. It is not merely because he is still a major
figure in British politics, more importantly he thinks for himself and isn’t
scared to voice an opinion even if it is unpopular. It is for this reason that
like Tony Benn, George Galloway is liked by many who disagree with his
politics. Mr Galloway believes in things. He has character and is completely
unlike the clones that fill the seats in the Scottish Parliament. He is respected
as someone who came from a Dundee tenement and made himself into one of the best
debaters of his generation. And he’s not finished yet.
Few indeed are the Labour politicians who are still
active from the time when Mr Galloway first entered Westminster. They left the
field to the Scottish nationalists. But put Mr Galloway on a horse and give him
a lance and he might just deal with the boil that is the SNP.
Since All for Unity began, there have been those who
were negative, those who wrote off its chances, those who hoped if they ignored
us, we would go away. But there is a reason we are not going away. It’s because
All for Unity is needed to get people like George Galloway and Jamie Blackett
and many others into the Scottish Parliament.
These people come from many different political backgrounds
from the Left to the Right, but they share one idea. They are all willing to
work with other parties so that Scotland has a chance of getting rid of the SNP
and so we can all relax from the continual threat to our country that the Scottish
independence poses.
I have seen a draft of the All for Unity manifesto and
it contains some of the best ideas I have seen for making Scotland a better
place to live. They are sensible ideas that can be shared by people from all political
backgrounds and none. If only the other Pro UK parties had the guts to write
such a document, but we are likely to get more of the same tedium that they
have been producing for years.
If the Scottish Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems
were going to get rid of the SNP, they would have done so already. The problem
is not merely that they are unwilling to work together it’s that most of their
politicians are second rate mediocrities. It’s because we need to do better
that we need George Galloway and All for Unity. We can’t just keep repeating the
same tactics hoping that this time they will get rid of the SNP. They won’t.
Lots of people ask me how to vote? Well the answer is
simple.
In the constituency vote choose the Pro UK party that
has the best chance of winning where you live.
In the list vote choose All for Unity.
SNP support has recently begun to fall. We can take
advantage of this if we work together. Every vote for All for Unity will make
it more likely that the best known opposition politician in Scotland, George
Galloway, will be in Holyrood holding Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to account. He
will certainly do a better job than either Rennie, Ross or Sarwar.
Make sure your vote hits the target. Let Sir George of
Galloway enter the lists and his lance will not kill dragons, but it might just
skewer a sturgeon.