COLIN CAMPBELL: Lib-Dems aim to turn Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire poll into a two-horse race
It may still gladden the hearts of some SNP supporters to recall the day Nicola Sturgeon came to town soon after her elevation to party leader and First Minister, by far the most tumultuous celebrity event I've seen in Inverness. I say celebrity because that's what she was back then, in a different stratosphere from a run-of-the-mill politician. Crowds packed the High Street and Eastgate, where in late afternoon she and her security team were hemmed in by selfie-mad, autograph crazy fans and were literally unable to move. I watched this festival of adoration perched precariously atop an Eastgate bench. I doubt if the like will be seen again.
That was Sturgeon at the very peak of her popularity and a soaring high point for the SNP. And in every way the contrast between then and now, a few weeks before a general election, could not be more profound.
• Sign up for our free newsletters
Party leader John Swinney could barely generate much enthusiasm if he was giving away £20 notes and Taylor Swift tickets. His deputy Kate Forbes would be more of an attraction but she isn't in the same league as Nicola Sturgeon at her charismatic best.
Sturgeon is gone and at least partly forgotten. Support for the SNP has slumped. Morale in the party seems low. And where the outcome of the election in the Inverness constituency has in fairly recent times been a foregone conclusion that’s far from being the case now.
Lib-Dem candidate Angus MacDonald has over the past 16 months invested a great deal of time, effort and money in positioning himself as the main challenger to Drew Hendry, and is now seeking to frame the contest as a two-horse race. He wants those who have other instincts and loyalties to shed them on election day and get behind him as the man most likely to deal a telling blow to the SNP.
In the past two weeks alone I've received three election posters on the doormat from his team, on top of numerous others that have landed there in recent months. There's been nothing from anyone else.
Mr MacDonald has also been aided by the distinctly lacklustre approach of Labour and the Conservatives. On the day the election was announced Labour hadn't even got a candidate in place. They have now selected Michael Perera. The Tories at least had someone to represent them. Ruraidh Stewart, like Mr MacDonald, is a Highland councillor but in the time since he took on the role in February has made little discernible impact.
What no one knows is how much a dismal period for the SNP will affect the numbers turning out to vote for them in the newly created Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire constituency, or anywhere else.
Drew Hendry can with some justification claim to be a hard-working local MP, although the SNP's abysmal record on upgrading the A9 will do him no favours at all. And many will vote for the SNP out of habit and sustained loyalty. But other supporters have made clear their disillusionment over sending the same politicians back to Westminster time and again to “hold the UK government to account” for an hour a week at Prime Minister’s Questions and be a virtual irrelevance the rest of the time. And, most importantly to them, not advance the cause of independence by even one inch.
But whatever the final outcome, at least this campaign with two clear frontrunners is generating interest, unlike in 2019 when Mr Hendry faced no serious challenge and his victory was a foregone conclusion.
The last general election to compare was in 2015, when Drew Hendry ousted Danny Alexander. The lights will surely be burning long and late in Lib Dem and SNP HQs with another change of MP being a distinct possibility.
