What now? That’s the big question on the mind of every politician, elected or defeated in Thursday’s general election, as the victorious travel to the House of Commons, to deal with their party’s own potential House of Cards plot.
Theresa May has gone from “strong and stable” to a laughing stock whose divisive advisors threw themselves under the bus in an effort to keep her in Downing Street.
She is gripping onto power with her fingernails and it seems implausible that she will lead the Conservatives into another general election.
It’s worth noting, however, that less than a year ago those words could have been written around a year ago as the conventional wisdom about Jeremy Corbyn’s position in the Labour Party.
So funny things can happen but it seems the resignations of Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, the PM’s most trusted aides but a duo unpopular outside of her office, and the decision to bring Michael Gove back from exile betray the fact that May knows her jacket is on a shoogily peg.
Timothy was the man blamed for the dementia tax debacle but it is Hill’s top-down approach that provokes the most ire from within the Tories.
“She’s a witch. A complete control freak,” says one with experience of dealing with the former journalist.
With Downing Street in a position of weakness, The Courier reveals today that the new Scottish Conservative MPs will band together to make their collective voice heard.
Who are they, though? And what are they likely to bring to the table?
Former Holyrood chief whip John Lamont was trusted as Ruth Davidson’s eyes and ears at Holyrood when, just five years ago, she needed someone she could rely on to cover her back with her leadership constantly being called into question. He is a canny, and ruthless, operator who will play a big part in the new group.
Douglas Ross, who ousted Angus Robertson in Moray, made a name for himself as the party’s justice spokesman at Holyrood – but also for skipping committee meeting and votes to be a linesman at big football matches. That seems unsustainable if he wants to make an impact at Westminster.
Ross Thomson is a slightly different kettle of fish from the other two former MSPs. A Brexiteer, Davidson is said to be glad to get him “out of her hair”. He is boyish and enthusiastic but was firmly on the fringes at Holyrood.
On the other hand, new Angus MP Kirstene Hair is highly rated by her boss and has proven to be a hardworking and smart operator. You don’t get sent into the spin room for TV debates if the leadership doesn’t have big plans for you down the line.
And the others? Party insiders say it’s a mixed bag.
Stirling’s new MP Stephen Kerr is seen as “able and sensible”, Paul Masterton, who won East Renfrewshire, is rated “smart”. David Duiguid, Banff and Buchan, is thought of as a “good guy” who “knows the business world” but “needs to learn the communication side of things.”
It’s not all sunshine and lollipops, though. Colin Clark, who defeated Alex Salmond in Gordon, ranges from being “very funny, but not wholly a team player” to “useless”, depending on who the source. Andrew Bowie, who won West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine was described as “a bit of a hound” while Dumfries and Galloway’s Alister Jack has been dismissed as an “old school tweedy Tory.”
It’s not just the Tories doing soul searching at Westminster.
The SNP clearly won the election in Scotland, gaining as they did the most votes and a majority of seats.
Yet there are giant, flashing warning signs that should be going off in Nationalist high command, particularly given the fact some of the party’s brightest and most talented operators are no longer around to be part of the solution.
Angus Robertson was an extremely effective leader at Westminster and gained plaudits and positive headlines for his performances at Prime Minister’s Questions.
He was certainly good up front, but it was behind the scenes that he added the most value, being seen as an excellent strategist with an extremely sharp political mind.
Whatever your personal opinions of him, you can add Alex Salmond into that category as well, although he is not as unifying within the MPs as might be instinctively assumed.
The SNP must work out, as well as its position on a second independence referendum, how it is going to work effectively in the Commons.
Ian Blackford seems to be the favourite to take over from Robertson and he is in the same mould.
Is that what the party needs right now? Or does the Corbyn surge, including in Scotland, suggest a more radical figure of the left like Tommy Sheppard should be given a shot?
Whatever the case, the SNP needs to establish a new “brains trust” and it will rely heavily on the 2015 intake , particularly the likes of Stephen Gethins, Joanna Cherry, and Stewart McDonald, to step up to the challenge.
This has been a difficult election for parties of government. It has raised plenty of questions for them. Is either up to the task of finding answers?