The Caledonian Mercury has invited some of those in the election firing-line to send regular bulletins about the personal side of campaigning. David McLetchie is a former leader of the Scottish Conservatives and is standing for re-election in Edinburgh Pentlands.Wednesday 20 April The prime minister joins the campaign and speaks at a rally in Inverness attended by 300 people and meets Save Lossiemouth campaigners. He is well received at both events. The organisation is spot on, whereas before he entered Downing Street it was all a lot more fluid. I have noticed a big difference between an opposition politician and the leader of the UK government visiting us, that’s for sure. After a constituency visit it's across the city to The Tun, where I take part in a panel discussion on the constitution for the Scotland at Ten radio programme hosted by Sarah Paterson. I’m in the studio with Sarah and Fiona Hyslop and the other three panellists are in a Glasgow studio. It’s all familiar territory which we could do in our sleep.
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Sarah comments at the end that it’s all very polite – which it was, but it’s quite difficult to have an animated discussion with someone 50 miles away. No one wants a radio programme to degenerate into a rammy of people talking over one another where the listener can’t distinguish who said what. Thursday 21 April David Cameron does well in his Good Morning Scotland interview, which is a good start to the day. He is pictured by the Clyde with Ruth Davidson, who is our no.1 candidate on the Glasgow list and who we hope will succeed Bill Aitken. Ruth has a background in broadcasting and a sparkling personality. She is quite open about being a lesbian and tells a wicked joke or two, but beneath that bold and breezy exterior there is a serious and intelligent young woman, who I think will be a great asset to us in the parliament. I have the afternoon off to attend the funeral service of my friend and neighbour Iain Sinclair in our local parish church. Iain had been fighting bowel cancer for the last two years and showed tremendous courage and strength of character throughout. He lived life to the full and was great sportsman, reflected in the huge turnout for the service. His wake is at the Grange Club and is a lively gathering full of people sharing stories and jokes about Iain which he would have relished and enjoyed. I miss him. Friday 22 April Good Friday – the first of the four public holidays between now and election day, but there is still work to be done delivering my constituency newspaper before we break off early to enjoy the rest of the day. My sister-in-law Anne from Bridlington in Yorkshire is staying with us for the holiday weekend. Nationally, Annabel [Goldie] rouses my jealousy by getting a tour of the Tunnock’s factory in Uddingston, where she launches our economy manifesto. It’s a credit to Derek Brownlee, our finance spokesman, who spent many painstaking hours fully costing our entire four-year spending programme. There’s no point promising something if you can’t deliver it, although try telling that to the SNP. The economy manifesto is well received, but in all honesty I think the big media turnout has more to do with the teacakes and caramel logs on offer. Saturday 23 April Out in Stenhouse and Saughton with a team of helpers. These are new parts of the constituency, so I am keen to make an impact here – but it is hard going in the teeming rain and not for the first time I am grateful to everyone who signs on to help not for any personal reward or glory but simply because they believe in the party and what it stands for. As a candidate, you can’t say thank you enough, no matter how elevated you may be. In the afternoon I watch Hearts blow a three-goal lead against Motherwell and end up hanging on for a draw. Talk about momentum shifts – Labour must know exactly how the Hearts players feel. Sunday 24 April Present Sheila and her sister with Easter eggs inscribed with their names before heading off to party HQ to do an early morning interview with Bernard Ponsonby who is providing the pool coverage for the broadcasters. A token question about testing the three Rs in primary schools which is our topic for the day, then it’s on to questions about the polls which show the SNP as having a commanding lead over Labour. The Labour campaign is in disarray and I say so. They have deliberately chosen to blur dividing-lines between them and the SNP and have spent all the campaign so far attacking us in a rerun of 2010. Labour should have said they did not support a council tax freeze and framed a choice between them and the SNP. Our media team identified today as the day to announce we were now actively targeting Liberal Democrat list votes, as we enter the last ten days of the campaign. There is a degree of media scepticism, as journalists enquire why any Lib Dems disaffected with the UK government would vote Tory, but this misses the point. Annabel has had a great campaign and people have warmed to her. Our canvassing returns suggest an opportunity to bolster our list vote with former Lib Dem voters, so we’re determined to seize it. Monday 25 April Another holiday and some more campaigning in the morning for me before I take the afternoon off to have a game of golf with my son James. He is in sparkling form – I am well below my best and he wins comfortably. Roll on the summer recess when I can get my game in shape. Talking of outdoor pursuits, today Annabel launches our sports and healthy living manifesto – fit4life – with rugby legend Gavin Hastings and education spokesperson Liz Smith. The three pass a rugby ball about for the cameras and it’s almost perfect until one person drops it. The culprit is not Annabel, nor Liz, but possibly the finest full-back we have ever produced. I would like to have seen the odds on that outcome. Tuesday 26 April I am at Leith FM this morning to record an interview for this local radio station in my capacity as the leading candidate on the Conservative list for Lothians. Some would see this as an insurance policy, and there are a fair number of critics of the list system and the way candidates are selected and ranked in order on the list. In our case, you have to be a constituency candidate before you can be considered for the list. The purpose behind this rule was to ensure that all candidates had to work on the ground and there were no free riders who could expect to breeze into parliament without contributing to the campaign. Our list order is determined by a ballot of party members in the region, and this took place six months ago. The system does tend to favour incumbents who work hard and are well-known and respected in their areas, but that’s not exactly a crime. The interview ends up being conducted in the peaceful sanctuary of the Leith Dockers Club, next to the Leith FM studio, because workmen are banging away in the main building and the noise interferes with the recording. Fairly standard stuff, but it takes well over an hour to do. I have strong local connections as the product of a mixed marriage – mother from Leith and father from Edinburgh. I attended Leith Academy primary school and am proud of the fact that last year Leith Academy celebrated its 450th anniversary. It was a great school for me. Only three marvellous teachers in seven years of primary education and never in a class with fewer than 40 pupils! Education is all about the quality of the teachers and their ability to educate and inspire. Back to Pentlands for more local campaigning before I travel to Glasgow in the evening for a Newsnight Scotland special edition on the constitution, where I am one of a seven-strong panel. Late-night live political programmes at the end of a long day are an occupational hazard for politicians. No wonder people become a cropper or stumble under interrogation. However, this event is pretty plain sailing. A lot of focus on an independence referendum to which we are opposed, but on which both Labour and the Lib Dems are distinctly wobbly. It’s pretty plain that the overwhelming majority of Scots don’t want independence, so why we should waste time on this when there are far more important decisions to be taken in the next parliament is not obvious. It’s typical of the willingness of politicians to be diverted to sideshows. Wednesday 27 April I visit Stevenson College with Liz Smith and meet the principal Brian Lister and staff and students to discuss the funding issues which affect them. Our visit coincides with an announcement that agreement has been reached in principle for Stevenson to merge with Jewel and Esk College to form an Edinburgh super-college which will have over 20,000 students. Brian is a bundle of energy and ideas and provides great leadership to Stevenson. One of his biggest concerns is that the determination of other parties in Scotland to avoid tuition fees or a graduate contribution for higher education will mean a real squeeze on the college sector, even although colleges are capable of delivering degree courses far more cost effectively than universities. Stevenson offers a degree in music in conjunction with Abertay and we visit one of the recording studios where a group is recording its version of the Beatles classic Eight days a week. Brian suggest this as a policy to boost productivity. I feel as if I am already on such a schedule. There’s a bizarre row between Labour and the SNP over who-ran-away-from-who in an Ayrshire Asda. Labour say the first minister scuttled off when they arrived, the SNP release so-called “damning” footage which they say claims Iain Gray ran away from Alex Salmond. Notwithstanding the fact that Iain Gray has form for running away, the footage doesn’t actually prove anything. It’s pretty pathetic and I say so in a media release. As a politician, you have to cherish the times when you truly hit the nail on the head and this is one of them. In the afternoon sunshine I canvass homes in the Cherry Trees in Balerno – a group of streets which live up to their name and where the trees are in beautiful full bloom. The positive results set me up nicely for a hustings meeting in Fairmilehead Church with the other Pentlands candidates – Ricky Henderson (Labour), Gordon Macdonald (SNP) and Simon Clark (Lib Dem). We each give a four-minute opening speech to an audience of 50 and then its question time chaired by the local minister. We cover sectarianism, denominational schools, transport priorities, policing, universal free services, climate change and nuclear power and how people should use their second vote. It’s all very polite, but the last question does give me a chance to slate the SNP for its false assertion that the second vote determines who is first minister. Alex Salmond is not the president of Scotland, however much he may want to be the new Papa Doc. I tell them and this goes down well. Return home for a late supper of pasta and to discover that Barcelona have just beaten Real Madrid. There is no end to the sacrifices I make for the cause.Want to discuss other issues? Join the debate on our new Scottish Voices forum
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