Now, short of having a leadership election, there's no way we could have garnered as much press as the other parties recently. And seeing as HRH Annabel Goldie is not for the off, not by a long way, then we're going to have to find a way to get into the public consciousness.
In Annabel, we have someone who can turn around the Scottish perception of the Conservatives. She is warm, friendly and approachable, as well as being generally regarded as fair and reasoned. Certainly, she is one of the top politicians in Holyrood, not many would argue with that. But the party itself, is quiet and has been for a long time north of the border.
Fair enough, some might argue that as a Tory in Scotland, shouting it from the rafters would be as sensible and productive as landing in Govan, blessing yourself, singing a hymn and removing your Celtic tracksuit to reveal a short-sleeved Celtic football top with Celtic and IRA tatooes up and down your arms. Then burning a Union Jack. And killing the queen.
But there is a natural distance between the Scottish Conservatives and the UK Conservative and Unionist Party, and that is something we need to build on, not to the detriment of the UK Tory party, but in order to have a sensible party and group of politicians pushing the right debates in Holyrood. Some people in Scotland will never accept the presence of a Conservative Party in Scotland, and realistically, we know that we won't be in power in the Scottish Parliament in my life-time, but we have a massive contribution to make, that we do make and will continue to make until global warming wipes us all out.
We have some incredibly able MSPs in Goldie, Brownlee, Fraser and McLetchie. But where are they? Well, this is the problem with the media, both in Scotland and the UK.
The Scottish Conservatives have their house in order. We know what we want, we know what we're doing and we're working hard for the people of Scotland that we represent.
Labour go belly-up and bish-bash-bosh, it's a media circus that detracts from governance and just plays politics. There is no piece in the paper about, while this circus goes on, yet again, this detracts from the day-t-day running of deveolved matters, there is just the slobbering press and the slobbering Government smelling blood, smelling a cheap political score that makes little or no difference to the people of Scotland.
The Lib Dems are washing away their past, and their future in being so unfortunately poor of late, with the only highlight being their leadership election, which itself was as damp a squib as Tavish Scott's front garden.
But there has been no coverage of the Scottish Conservatives recently and mostly I'm blaming it on the Labour-loving (as a story, not a party) media who instead of focussing on issues, on Scotland's future, on holding Salmond to account for numerous failings so far, instead play persnality politics with the two-main parties.
Funny thing is, I genuinely believe that if the media focussed on issues, and policy and all the other 'boring stuff' which makes this country tick and THAT is what the people read about and then chose to vote on, I don't think Labour would be one of the two main parties. They have been depressingly poor for the last 5/6 years and really show no sign of talent or drive or way of approaching anything.
But the rest of the blame must fall upon the Scottish Conservative Party, surely? Unfortunately, if we want to succeed, if we want to increase our numbers and have a strong say and mandate behind what we say (ie voter share), maybe we need to better at the childish politics that consumes our Parliament? Maybe we need to resort to mud-slinging? I hate to use the phrase, but maybe we need to perform some 'Punch'n'Judy' politics just to get us out there? I hope not, though.
I hope we can debate real issues, not let the SNP steal the show with a good headline-grabbing put-down of the Labour Party, because while this petty squabble runs and runs, there is a country and a Parliament waiting to be run. I hope there comes a day when political debate, a policy issue, a bill, a green paper, something, appears on our front pages without the political slagging, debated on the issue, not referring to who said what in 1995. We Tories won't stoop to that level, but unfortunately, that appears to be the only level that the game is being played upon, and whether it's through that route, or another, we need to get back in the game, because unlike the others, we have real public servants, able, willing, intelligent and forward-thinking who's aim it is to see this country succeed, not to see certain members of another party embarrassed and crushed. That's not what we're in politics for and it's not what the Scottish Parliament is for.
First stop, Glenrothes. We may not win, but we can show Scotland what the Scottish Conservatives are, who we are and why thousands upon thousands of people in the country still vote for us.
