caltonjock

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Orange Order of Scotland, supporters of the DUP and the Tory Party in Scotland

The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland Grand Master Jim McHarg, in a speech in 2017 said:

“The bulk of the Lodge’s estimated 50,000 Scottish supporters are Tories, and more members of the Order are now serving as elected officials across Scotland than at any time in the past two decades.”

 

 

 

 

20 May 2010: Orange Order activist and DUP supporter, Richard Cook, creator of Conservative Future (Scotland)

The former Deputy Chairman of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party stated:

“I believe deeply in our party, its membership and in the need for a centre right party to represent the hundreds of thousands of Scots who believe in the same things we do.

Putting it bluntly, our General Election results were not good. In all but a few seats the people of Scotland turned out to stop the Tories and not to support us despite the worst economic disaster in British peace time history. It is time the Party strengthened Scottish (CFS) Conservative Future.

Conservative Future (Scotland) did a fantastic job of mobilising its members to help in constituencies across Scotland at the 2010 General Election. Now we need to do everything we can to support and grow this organisation.

They move faster, get through more and have a different view on life than our more mature members, and while they bring with them certain challenges they are an essential part of a vibrant political party.

In East Renfrewshire I was blessed to have the support of a large and very dedicated bunch of young people, largely students, who dedicated Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings – right through the bitter cold of last winter – to the canvass activity that helped grow our vote.

Richard Anderson, Ross McFarlane and Colin Taylor, to name just three, did everything they could to coordinate a group of 20+ young activists from Conservative Future branches at Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, Caledonian University and beyond – and what a job they did.

Not that their activities were restricted to canvassing.  There were the numerous thousands of leaflets they dropped through doors and the myriad of new ideas they brought forward to the benefit of our campaign.

These guys are from a generation of people who are among the first to have grown up with Labour as the political establishment. They look at the state of our economy and blame lack of job opportunities on our opposition, not the Tories.

For them the word “Tory” does not throw up bad memories of Conservative government and in seeking to end perceptions of a toxic brand we should be asking CFs members to be active participants in brand modernisation.

How do we help them? First of all we need to ask them what they need in order to be able to continue to grow and prosper.

We are talking about a generation of people who have grown up in an online world and for whom modern campaign techniques are second nature. As a result they have a very different outlook on life and will want to take us in exciting new directions – both in our structure and our campaign activities.

Then we need to help them deliver exciting organisations on the ground. This is particularly the case on University campuses where political celebrity is often used to attract new members.

People like Boris Johnson are extremely popular (hence the range of Boris material produced for CF use at Freshers’ Fairs) and with a young and dynamic new Prime Minister we need to use the positive images we have to their best advantage.

So, we need to help CFs branches organise good local events, with a good profile of speaker, and to support these events in person, where appropriate. Finally we must recognise that, in return for their support of campaigns in our constituencies we need to support them.

I intend to organise a CFs summer get together in Glasgow to thank them for their support of my campaign in East Renfrewshire. More importantly, I hope this will show Conservative Future (Scotland) we value their involvement and want to hear from them what direction they believe our Party should now take. (revivingourparty)

 

 

 

 

2011: Orange Order activists and DUP supporters, the ultra right-wing young conservatives band together under Ruth Davidson and the “Conservative Future” banner

In Scotland, at 2011, Tory Party membership had reduced to around 8000, many of whom were aged between 50-80. This created problems since it was not possible to conduct any meaningful electorate canvassing without troops on the ground and after being appointed leader of the Party in Scotland Ruth Davidson turned away from the “Tory Old Guard” instead preferring to raise the profile of her personally selected “Conservative Future” footsoldiers, so that they would cement and implement her doctrine in all areas of the Party in Scotland.

The Davidson, Orange Order and Unionist Tory Party youth wing in Scotland comprises party members aged 30 and younger. Students participate equally in the affairs of the Party enjoying active participation in the campaigns of their local MSPs, MP or Councillors at all levels of the Party structure

But there is a price to pay for creating a two tier Party and the behaviour of a number of young Tory thugs associated with an increasing number of unsavoury incidents gives warning to the electorate not to provide unfettered support to a political group closely modelled on the ideals of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (DUP).

 

 

 

12 September 2011: Ross Mcfarlane, Orange Order, DUP supporter and Conservative Future (Scotland) President & colleagues in Drunken Anti-Catholic Rant

Footage has emerged of Ross McFarlane, who was also the MSP’s election agent, setting fire to the EU standard, after a St Andrew’s Day dinner last year while he was wearing Glasgow University robes.

Video footage showed McFarlane and a number of fellow conservatives in Hyndland, in Glasgow’s West End, at 2am after the dinner, which was attended by Ruth Davidson and guest speaker, right-wing Tory MEP Roger Helmer. The footage showed three people, including McFarlane and another individual draped in a Union Flag, trying to burn the EU flag on the pavement. Struggling to set the cloth on fire, McFarlane said “F**k sake”, before adding: “Get a lighter.” An off-camera voice is heard to say: “Douse it.” At this point it becomes clear the group is planning to burn the flag using alcohol and a lighter. McFarlane is then seen to pour liquid on to the flag, prompting an associate to say: “What a waste of vodka, by the way.” A frustrated McFarlane exclaims: “Somebody get a lighter.” The failure to destroy the flag then becomes a source of merriment for a member of the group off-camera. He can be heard saying: “There’s more chance of f*****g seeing the Pope confess to paedophilia.” The group laughs. The same person then says: “There’s more chance of Hugh Dallas telling us he’s a f*****g tarrier.” – a derogatory term for an Irish Catholic. The jibe prompted more laughter. McFarlane finally set the flag alight. The group expressed its approval before one of them started to sing God Save The Queen. The fire petered out and McFarlane said: “S**t disnae burn, lads.”

 

 

 

25th September 2011: Richard Green, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former secretary of Conservative Future (Scotland) posts racist comments online

Stewart Green, Glasgow University graduate and former secretary of Conservative Future (Scotland) and a key figure behind the “Tory Hoose” blog, claimed it was not possible to be racist against “blacks” and said it did not matter how many black people went to university. Green was one of the Tory members previously embroiled in a EU flag-burning row.

Toryhoose.com was formed by senior party supporters in 2011 as a Scottish version of the acclaimed Conservative Home website. The blog described itself as a forum for “fresh thinking” in the Tories and was edited by activists.

Green, the site’s webmaster and “leadership editor” had also posted his controversial views on race elsewhere online. In a post on university admissions on microblogging site Twitter he said:

“Why’s it ‘racist to conclude no blacks good enough’? Wasn’t aware black was a race.” On the same day, he tweeted: “Shock: Oxbridge has only few black students. However, They have zero single armed, black, lesbian mothers. How outrageous.” He later said: “As far as I can see, racism is discrimination against a particular race. So you can be racist against Jews, but not against black people.” Green also tweeted: “An Asian festival is taking place a few doors up, either that or several cats are being strangled. Can’t quite decide which.” On UK Government policy towards Pakistan, he said the Asian country’s “first mistake” was “ending imperial rule”.

Green was also one of those present when a drunken young Conservative, Ross McFarlane, set fire to a European Union flag on a Glasgow street.

 

 

 

13 Nov 2011: Belfast born, Colin Taylor, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former President of Conservative Future (Scotland) praises the activities of the Ulster Volunteer Force

In her first week as national leader of the party, new Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson was embroiled in a sectarianism row after one of her party’s Holyrood staff posted song lyrics on Twitter glorifying Northern Irish terrorist group, the Ulster Volunteer Force.

It emerged that Belfast born Colin Taylor, a Glasgow University graduate and former president of Conservative Future Scotland (CFS),  was employed, at the public’s expense, in the Tory press and research unit in Holyrood had tweeted lyrics from the song “Here Lies a Soldier”, which sings the praises of the Ulster Volunteer Force, an anti-Catholic Northern Irish terrorist group. In his tweets Taylor casually referred to “tims” another offensive name for Catholics.

As embarrassing as such behaviour may have been for Davidson, it was her response to Taylor’s tweets that has earned her the most criticism. Taylor was allowed to keep his position, his punishment for his behaviour being no more than a “warning.” MSPs  called this “insufficient” and demanded  more “disciplinary proceedings” without success.

Peter Kearney, of the Catholic Media Office, said: “The Catholic Church in Scotland condemns in the strongest possible terms any sectarian behaviour or criminality, from any quarter whatsoever, as having no place in a civilised society.” (scottishpol)

 

 

 

20 September 2016: Ulsterman, Ian Donnell, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former chairman of Conservative Future (Scotland) at St Andrews University is guilty of election fraud

An investigation conducted by the Students Association at St Andrews University found that allegations of “election fraud” and other allegations of abuse of authority, against the St Andrews Conservative and Unionist Society Chairman and committee were in fact true.

There were a number of serious allegations including an anti-Roman Catholic sentiment within the Society. Stephan Maier, (member) said that at times there was a “general sentiment” of anti-Roman Catholic feeling in the Society stating that, anti-Roman Catholic remarks were made. He said: “I’m not someone who feels very uncomfortably easily myself, but I believe others would. People would easily be put off by that immediately, I completely agree with that. Certain people would feel their presence was unwanted, and their opinion carried little or no value because they were Roman Catholic. It put off people from joining or attending.”

A spokesman for the membership said: “It is some relief to be vindicated by the Union, and that our claims that the election had been unpleasant and corrupted have been confirmed.” (thesaint-online)

 

 

 

 

4 May 2017: Callum Purves, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former Conservative Future (Scotland) Society President found Guilty of Election Foul Play at St Andrews University elected to the Kinross Council

Purves and Ulsterman, Ian Donnell, (former society chairman and president) were investigated and found guilty of serious electoral foul play.

The odious behaviour of senior officers of the Society, many since promoted to senior positions within the Scottish Conservative Party was symptomatic of the failure, on the part of Ruth Davidson and her colleagues to provide leadership and guidance to younger members of her Party.

It is conjectured that, had the information contained in this article been made available to the Kinross electorate it is doubtful Purves would have been elected to serve as a councillor.

Might be he will do the right thing and stand down and submit himself for re-election. But “pigs might fly” before that happens.(thesaint-online)

 

 

 

 

19 May 2017: Orange Order activist and DUP supporter, Richard Cook, creator of Conservative Future (Scotland), at the centre of a £425,000 (DUP) major brexit funding scandal.

Cook is at the centre of a political scandal raging in Northern Ireland.

Back in February, an “openDemocracy” investigation found that donors had taken advantage of Northern Ireland’s secretive electoral laws to funnel hundreds of thousands of pounds to the DUP’s pro-Brexit campaign.

Under pressure, the DUP revealed that the party had received £425,622 from a group called ‘the Constitutional Research Council.

Nothing much is known about the Constitutional Research Council. It has no formal legal status. What is known is that Cook claimed he was the chairman. And he promised to fund the pro-union campaign in any future Scottish independence referendum, stating “More people with more money are ready to step up to the plate this time compared with the last referendum”.

He did not reveal who the people were.” The DUP refused to say who the backers behind the CRC were. But there is little to suggest that Cook himself is a major donor.   Conservative colleagues described Cook as “a nice but not a rich guy”.

He is also listed as an advisor on “Think Scotland”, a conservative-minded website funded by Scottish unionist businessman Robert Kilgour.

Think Scotland is owned by former Tory MSP Brian Monteith who was the head of press during the EU referendum, for Leave.EU, the campaign group run by Arron Banks. (openDemocracy)

Comment:

Cook has well established links, going back a number of years, with the Canadian registered data collection company, AggregateIQ which intervened plotting against Scots in support of “Better Together” in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum and in subsequent Scottish elections and Voteleave.EU in the Brexit campaign.

It is this company that is the most likely source of the £425,000 donation to Richard Cook.

This is evidenced by the submission, in the expenditure accounts to the Electoral Commission of an AggregateIQ copy invoice for digital advertising, in the name of Jeffrey Donaldson MP for £32,750.73.

But there was no record of the company building any pages for the DUP website at any point.

 

 

 

Orange Order activist and DUP supporter, Richard Cook is allied to a right-wing Eurosceptic pressure group “the Freedom Association”

Cook was the Scottish spokesperson for the Conservative Party, “Campaign Against Political Correctness”, which was closely allied to the Freedom Association, a right-wing Eurosceptic pressure group.

In 2009, Cook and Murdo Fraser addressed the “Freedom Association” at a fringe event at the Conservative party conference in Perth to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 election victory.

Freedom Association Chief Executive Simon Richards later praised Cook as “one of the hardest working PPC’s (Parliamentary Prospective Candidates) anywhere in the country”.

The “Freedom Association” also boasts well established historical links with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland.

Among its original founders was Ross McWhirter, a controversial journalist who campaigned for strict restrictions on Irish people in Britain, including making it compulsory for all Irish people in Britain to register with the local police and to provide signed photographs of themselves when renting flats or booking into hotels and hostel.

McWhirter was shot dead by the Provisional IRA in Enfield in 1975.

In 2007 and 2008, leading DUP politicians Jeffrey Donaldson and Sammy Wilson were involved in “Freedom Association” fact finding events in Northern Ireland.

At the time, the “Freedom Association” said it had taken a close interest in Ulster matters from its earliest days and was keen to strengthen its ties with the province and to demonstrate its support for the Union.

Donaldson was the chair of the DUP’s Leave.EU campaign – his name appeared on the election material that the CRC’s £425,000 donation paid for – and Wilson was a prominent pro-Brexit DUP voice throughout the campaign, regularly appearing in the media.

An SNP spokesperson said: “These are deeply concerning allegations. The fact that we still do not know the source of such a significant amount of cash used to help bankroll the Brexit campaign is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to continue.

Just as concerning are the apparent links to the highest levels of the Scottish Tory party.

Ruth Davidson must clarify what links she has with Mr Cook, and whether her party has helped itself to money from the same murky sources.” (The Independent)

 

 

 

 

2 Oct 2017: Orange Order supporter, Murdo Fraser Tory (MSP)

Fraser, a well known and unashamed anti-Catholic bigot, tweets sly sectarian driven innuendo almost daily alongside his Sevco tweets and his party never censor him.

The Scottish Tory’s clearly don’t give a toss about their MSP’s openly publishing and voicing anti-Catholic sentiments stirring the sectarian pot, they know their behaviour will not be condemned by the Scottish press and will be embraced by the Orange Order Unionists anticipating that the exposure will increase their vote share allowing them to carry on, and that sums up the Tory “one nation conservatism”.

Fraser tweeted, after the Bayern game about Celtic’s elimination from the Champions League: “Don’t you hate Scottish teams being dragged out of Europe against their will? And on Reformation Day too.”

After an “old firm” match in 2016 Fraser tweeted: “Rangers 5 Celtic 4 – The Queen’s 11 deliver Her Majesty the perfect Birthday present.”

Tweets, designed to increase the pain of losing confirm the mindset of the man who associates Brexit and Protestantism with Celtic’s elimination from the Champions League. And this from a political nobody who has sat in the Scottish parliament for nearly 20 years collecting his taxpayer funded salary as an MSP without ever being elected.