“I do not believe that I have left the Conservative Party. I believe that the Party has left me.”
So said Jamie Greene when, on Thursday 3 April, he tendered his resignation to Russell Findlay, leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. MSP for West Scotland Region since 2016, the Greenock-born politician, who is well liked by his constituents, stressed his respect for Findlay on a personal level but said that he felt the party’s advisors were dragging it in the wrong direction. He remarked that he fears the collapse of ‘decent centre right politics’ in Scotland.
Greene is not the only politician to have expressed concern about the rise of a different brand of right-wing politics influenced by the Trump regime in the US and represented in Scotland by Reform UK, a private company which fields candidates for election alongside traditional democratic political parties. Two weeks ago Reform UK achieved its highest ever polling result in Scotland, on 17%, which would put it 5% ahead of the Conservatives at Holyrood.
Although a wider view of the polls shows clear majority support for parties on the left of the political spectrum, both the Conservatives and Labour have been accused of modifying their policies to make them more like those of Reform UK in order to recapture some of those lost votes.
For Greene, there is a personal aspect to this political shift, as he’s a gay man who grew up in a working class community, feeling the sting of so-called ‘family values’ politics under Margaret Thatcher’s government. “When I first joined the Conservative Party and campaigned in local elections, I did so for a modern party, led by David Cameron, with a socially liberal view of the world,” he said in his resignation letter. He explained that he was encouraged by Ruth Davidson, who assured him that he would be welcome, and that his experience has generally been positive. He fears however that the party is now changing direction.
“Instead of proudly leading on equality, we now run the very serious and immediate risk of becoming once again the party of social division and morality wars. A cursory glance at our social media output confirms this fear. My generation of Conservative politician helped put the Nasty Party name in the bin, but it now appears that it was just filed away in a drawer marked pending. I am not alone in feeling this way.”
Joining the Liberal Democrats
Subsequent to his resignation, Greene, whose long history of cross-party work has won him friends across the parliament, was approached by Alexander Cole-Hamilton, with the result that he has now joined the Liberal Democrats.
“I am delighted to welcome Jamie into the Scottish Liberal Democrats,” said Cole-Hamilton on 4 April. “There are many who voted for Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives who are dismayed to see the party lurching to extremes. Jamie is one of them, but he sees in the Liberal Democrats a chance to do things differently.”
Greene has a wealth of parliamentary experience, having served on the Conservative front bench as spokesperson for Transport, Education and Justice. He has also done committee work on the rural economy, human rights and culture. He is the leader of Holyrood’s LGBT+ Cross Party Group. Although he supported Brexit, he has remained committed to a close working relationship with the EU, and he has long characterised himself as a One Nation Conservative.
Greene has pledged to continue to work with the Conservatives on issues of common concern. Speaking at the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Inverness, he said that he wanted to reach out to former colleagues who shared his feelings and felt “scunnered with the endless culture wars”.
“I think we need to bring back some decency, some tolerance and some much needed respect back into Scottish politics,” he said.
Findlay has described Greene’s departure as “unfortunate”.
More in Holyrood.
