The Breakthrough Tour - Banff and Buchan

[Charles Trevorrow]

In the final stop on Charles Trevorrow’s “Breakthrough Tour” of the country’s safest seats. This was the SNP’s biggest win and the overall largest nationalist vote in the country. Press had been briefed that Trevorrow would play on his Cornish heritage and working class roots to appeal to those disillusioned with establishment politics, and speak in defence of unified opposition to Labour and the Tories.

“Fraserburgh is a fabulous place, you know. As someone from a fishing family myself, who’s worked on the boats, it looks a bit like home, though we couldn’t be farther away from it. Not just for me, but for my party. This is the safest SNP seat in the country, and one where we have a lot of work to do in listening to people. Speaking here today, though, in Banff and Buchan constituency, looking around, I see a room of people who have no need to be convinced that this Government isn’t working for them. Just look at the last election result - a dozen or so votes in it to even hold Labour’s deposit. I have no work to do on that front. Indeed, I see a room of people and a set of voters who have very similar values, concerns, and ideas to me and other liberals. 95% of voters here didn’t give anything that even resembles a mandate to this Government. Yet here we are - lumbered with inept, corrupt, and short-sighted politicians at Westminster, and that is across both of the main parties.

“This is the most nationalist voting constituency in Britain. I have a clear message as a result of that - I get it. I was brought up in Mevagissey, St Austell, and Truro. The end of the country. A million miles from Whitehall. I mean, I’d only even been to London the once before I got elected. I understand the impulse that I think most people here and I share quite deeply - that things aren’t working and we need better. And I really feel that our Lib Dem politics are those that fit best with that position, if we want a real unified opposition to Labour and the Tories alike.

“My party’s commitment to constitutional reform is something few can question. Holyrood, a fine institution, is a product of liberalism more than any other belief system or set. The idea and concept, the original movement, going forwards and into the policy detail, we put that forward. And it is never perfect and must be molded by the people of Scotland, but it is a damned major achievement after what we suffered under the Tories as a country. Now is the right time to be thinking about the future, positively, and about what next - Scotland should have more powers to decide its own fate and its own policy positions. We will support that every step of the way to make Britain work for Scotland, whether you be a Highland crofter, on a Glaswegian estate, or in an Edinburgh penthouse.

“Under my leadership, the Liberal Democrats will be ambitious. We will be the party of aspiration and fairness. We will be the party that provides the opposition to Labour that this country needs, and the strong local representation that our communities need. We cannot return to the days of Mandelson pulling the strings, no, but we also can’t go back to Thatcherite radicalism tearing this country apart. We are the real opposition not just to the Government, but to this corrupt and failing Parliamentary system, and the only party who are seriously committed to reform - and with the most MPs in living memory, the party most equipped to make it happen. So, friends, I want to listen. I want to hear from you. How we can make this country better and how we can win as a party, because if we don’t win, then this shower doesn’t stop. Now, let’s get out there and let’s get talking to people - there’s no other way to hear them, after all. We aren’t Labour, we won’t rely on focus groups, and we aren’t the Tories, we won’t just ignore people, so I reckon chatting might be the only way!”

Trevorrow led a team out to Fraserburgh, a local fishing town, where his background and knowledge came in handy. As did his ability to walk into any pub in the country and chat, which was the evening's activity with local press and members staying the night.

[Barclay A.A. Stanley]

How long do you suppose it will be before people get tired of Charles Trevorrow telling them that he and his family were fishermen? Not to worry, the man has had umpteen dozen careers before settling on being an MP, so he can change it up.

Seriously, though, this speech does a decent job of reaching the locals and telling them what they want to hear about the government and the official opposition, and it shows them that, when it comes to choosing a party, they can either choose the Scottish Nationalists or the Liberal Democrats. They agree, and have agreed for some time, but they choose the nationalists. Why didn't Trevorrow bring up his Celtic roots and premiere a Liberal Democrat policy of promoting the Celtic cultures of Britain? I don't know, but it might have gone over well here.

Overall, this speech feels like a bit of an afterthought, and I'd wager that that's what it was. A note to all readers: quality is always better than quantity. A good speech is better than a good speech and a bad speech. This wasn't a bad speech, but it certainly wasn't a good speech either. It was just, sort of, a speech. It does what it needs to: reminds Scottish people that the Liberal Democrats are still here; but it doesn't exactly enthrall them into looking any further than that. Right now, the Liberal Democrats are kind of riding on the SNP having a 'mare. If they want to take the ball into their own court, and step out of the nationalists' shadows, becoming the party of preference in Scotland rather than the "next best choice" then they have a lot of work to do and this speech isn't close to being enough to achieve that.

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