This is Iain Martin’s weekly newsletter, exclusively for Reaction subscribers.
When in the early hours of 2 May 1997 it became clear the Tories had been wiped out in Scotland, winning not a single parliamentary seat north of the border, it is said the incoming Prime Minister Tony Blair raised an eyebrow. Had they meant to do that? He wasn’t sure they had intended to go quite as far as leaving the Scottish Conservatives with no representation. New Labour wanted to win big, of course, but was it a good idea – constitutionally speaking – to wipe out the Conservatives north of the border? It turned out to be a very bad idea indeed and we are still living in Britain with the aftereffects.
