‘For too long there’s been too much power vested in the party leader and those around the party leader’
It is a time of change in the Scottish Conservative Party. We need a reset. It’s high time for the members of the party to take back control.
I am proud to be a Scottish Conservative; because of our past but also because I believe we have a vital part to play in the future of the country I love.
We should stand apart from the leftist consensus of the Scottish political establishment. We must offer something unique.
An aspirational Scotland where our traditional values of personal responsibility, strong families and communities are intrinsic and people who do the right thing, play by the rules, pay their taxes and provide for their families are not taken for granted.
To do this we need to fix our party. We have a culture problem. Too much power in too few hands, too many feeling they are outside the tent and their voices aren’t being heard.
No party should ever be a personality cult. Personality can matter. Many people said to me at the General Election that they missed Ruth Davidson. But Ruth was a phenomenon. She was a one-off.
For too long there’s been too much power vested in the party leader and those around the party leader. The leadership has been too exclusive and top-down.
Decisions were too often made and delivered remotely. Even senior people would sometimes learn about them for the first time on social media and then be left to defend and explain things that they had no part in shaping.
Loyalty can never be one way. Leadership is a matter of consent, not divine right. Members feel frustrated and disenfranchised by doors being closed. They felt they had no real say.
Mutual trust is crucial and when trust is rationed so is loyalty. So, it all must be transformed and it’s easier to say than to do.
It starts with leadership which is about so much more than a starring role at First Minister’s Questions and giving speeches and interviews.
It is the work of bringing people together, creating common purpose, inspiring positive engagement and a widespread sense of shared ownership and belonging.
This kind of leadership isn’t about one person. It is a setting where different talents and strengths are combined to make something strong and vital.
Any organisation’s fitness to succeed comes down to its people. We have extraordinary people. But talent must be nurtured and developed. That doesn’t happen enough.
Talent and people must be a priority. When people give their time and hard-earned cash to a political party, they should feel treasured and appreciated.
We need a hard reset of the leadership culture. I have had a long career in business and know just how true the Drucker adage is that “culture eats strategy for breakfast every time!” Getting the culture right is crucial.
We need to build a culture that first and foremost values the people in the party. From the volunteer and activist, right through our office bearers, councillors, staffers, candidates, and parliamentarians, we need a party of the members, by the members, for the members.
Their contribution on policy should be sought and welcomed, not only at set piece events, but through consistent and well-led interest groups.
We have so many experts on such a wide range of subjects in our party that we are simply foolish not to use them.
We need a proper training programme that helps people share and learn new skills and knowledge with a focus on developing talented people who will be the next generation of leaders.
Most of all, the leader of the party must empower other leaders throughout the party. Too many people in senior positions feel the need to ask permission to do things. I have never been afflicted by this, feeling that it is usually easier to seek forgiveness than permission.
Whether it is the Young Conservatives, councillors, special interest groups, local associations or other bodies, they must be set free and allowed to contribute.
The Scottish Conservative Party is at a turning point. The cult of supreme leader politics that we have lived with for many years now is not a positive culture to have within a broad political party. If it continues, the party will disappear.
Stephen Kerr is the Conservative MSP for Central Scotland