The Man Who Would Be King

Russell Findlay MSP, a mixture of sensible proposals and colonial constraints

Readers might not know that the MSP being groomed for stardom as the new leader of the Tory’s Scottish Branch, Russell Findlay, (a man with two surnames) was once an investigative journalist, although working for skewed news, far-right newspapers. He was also attacked by an assassin at his own home, but more on that shortly. He is the shadow minister for justice, more accurately, the disher out of amendments on behalf of Union interests. His title is utterly at odds with a nation denied its full rights for over three hundred years. Does he notice? I doubt it.

Finlay’s achievements as a Tory MSP are few and far between. He talks a lot about what he sees as wrong about Scotland, usually in Cringe terms, an inverted type of racism, the hallmark of the unionist who feels his culture second-best to England’s superior mores. Of course, those drawbacks in the Scottish character he does not attribute to himself. Hence, we can take it his intellectual capacity for impartial analysis is severely limited. And that in turn has to have a bearing on his sense of justice.

Notwithstanding his old boss’ right to seek promotion away from Hoyrood’s petty babbly and banter, Findlay seems certain to be elected Tory leader in Scotland now that Douglas4Douglas (Douglas Ross MSP) has made a break for freedom, pitching to become an MP. Ross may have fallen flat on his vanity in the face of a fierce backlash against the Tory party in the UK, leaving Findlay almost two years to strut his Tory leader stuff on the Holyrood stage before the Scottish elections are likely to see him back writing for newspapers.

He espouses an odd mixture of sensible proposals on topical social ailments -he has been robust on denouncing ScotGov’s ghastly Hate Crime Act and on transgender prisoners, but leaves no lasting impression of his attacks. This side of him contrasts sharply with his closed colonial mind hard set against Scotland’s progress.

Scotland, he believes, should be governed by our neighbour, England. It is one of those strange ironies that has a unionist prepared to lose his job by the removal of our (hobbled) Parliament that he dislikes, whereas the nationalist is keener on holding onto their jobs than securing our independence and enhancing the powers of our Parliament.

His attacks on our civil and constitutional rights range from ill-informed to scatalogical, to be blunt. In his chosen topics it comes a no surprise that one of his former employers, the far-right Daily Mail, often parrots his attitude in articles, another case of Scotland’s oppressors enjoying almost a hundred percent media support.

Scrolling through his Twitter-X account opens retweets from another culturally embarrassed psuedo-Englishman Andrew Neill. plus any number of retweets from the exaggerators, the condemners of Scotland remaining a separate country. It makes for an enervating read.

In one recent article in the non-Scottish Scottish Express, written by Findlay, he allies himself with Bates the hero of the campaign for justice against the false charges made by the Post Office thugs. The piece is headed “Working hard to deliver justice”.

In fact, most of it padded out with historical detail he could have lifted from the Guardian, Findlay has no direct association with the Post Office campaign. He attaches himself to the outcome of the Inquiry in England, using the quashing of convictions in Scotland to cover himself in stolen glory. His shabby article carries the banner “A Conservative voice” with a capital ‘C’.

Findlay’s article on the Post Office Scandal published in the Express

As for the physical attack at his home, unsuccessful because of Findlay’s quick action, he suffered an acid attack and accused the Crown Office of doing a “dirty deal” with a wife beater serving a prison sentence. The essential details are laid out below. While the reader will be empathetic over what was a cowardly physical attack, it remains almost impossible to sympathise with his archaic colonial politics.

Russell Findlay was attacked at his home in December 2015 and published a book about the assault called. His attacker, William Burns, was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of assaulting the journalist to the danger of his life. The assassin received a 15-year sentence for the acid attack, with 10 years in custody and supervision for 5 years after his release. Findlay claims that the man was a paid hit-man. His book names a man he believes may have ordered the attack.

His Book and Scots Law

His book also documents his experiences as a crime reporter for more than twenty years, writing for the far-right Daily Mail and Sun, often railing at Scotland’s judicial system. What he has to say about our system of law tends to be slanted towards the dictum English law is better than Scots law. This sleight of hand imitates successive Westminster administrations that attempt cultural absorbtion. They infiltrate by bringing Scots law under the English system. The establishment of a UK Supreme Court, able to usurp Scots law, – some KCs deny this is the case – is one aspect of the covert attack on what is Scots sovereignty written into the Act of Union.

Findlay condemns the Crown Office for its handling of a recent domestic violence case while revealing details of charges it dropped against a violent criminal. In a chapter of his book called “Dirty Deal” Findlay claims a female victim was denied proper justice after she suffered a decade of violence. Her attacker was jailed for more than two years for domestic abuse after pleading guilty to nine charges of assault. We have to take his account at face value, there is no other evidence to counter his assertions. Findlay reveals that the Crown Office did a deal that saw a number of indictments dropped. “The Crown casually agreed to drop seven of the 16 charges, which meant he pled guilty to nine.” This seems a fair criticism of a process, but not of Scots Law in general. As you read through his complaints they tend to coalesce into a rant, rather than a step-by-step reasoning using lawerly prose.

A step up

Anyhow, the former journalist Russell Findlay is being lined up as a replacement for Douglas Ross as the next leader of the Scottish Tories, a rag-bag of self-interested slaves tpo the status quo as defined by England. We are unlikely to hear much official movement on that front until after the general election.

The Scotsman newspaper, sight and offices unseen for years, favours Findlay ass the “grassroots favourite” within the blue tie Scottish Torty movement. Another said while “there won’t be much talk about who comes in next until after the election”, Findlay was “certainly being talked about”.

From this one can justifiably suggest Findlay is the Tories “continuity candidate” to succeed linesman Douglas Ross. We can expect his intellectual acuity to be hyped to heaven way beyond his actual abilities. In fact, it’s already begun: he is “sharp and very able, with impeccable unionist credentials” said one Tory admirer. Those last three words of description are ominous. We could do with fewer House Jocks in Holyrood not more strutting cockerels. Mind you, Findlay has only been a Tory MSP since 2021 – securing a place at Holyrood on the regional list for West Scotland, so wild enthusiastic public support for his rise to prominance is not the fault of voters. Thr dullness of Findlay’s speeches are of the kind that make one feel politically successful, even as a lowly activist.

Two steps at a time

The Russell Findlay I saw bounding down the steps in Holyrood from the debating chamber and out past the refectory, file of notes tucked under his arm, appears a determined character and something of loner, both in the way he delivers his proposals or complaints, and careful not to be seen as Ross’ wee copyist. As for his future as a Tory mouthpiece, he really ought to be looking for a new job now, while there remain Tory friends in high places able to keep him in the manner to which he feels accustomed. If the rise and rise of the unhappy Truthie Davidson is anything to guide us, Findlay will be a peer within five years, earlier if he gets enough inviotations to Alister Union Jack’s for brandy and a fat cigar.

Meanwhile, we shall have to suffer weeks of over-the-top hyperbole from his colleagues proclaiming his alleged political strengths and superb character as a political dynamo, none carrying much weight.

NOTES

Acid Attack Book: A Journalist’s War with Organised Crime by Russell Findlay is published this week by Birlinn (£9.99, paperback) He will be appearing at the Aye Write festival on March 22 at 6pm in the CCA. For full festival programme and ticket details visit http://www.ayewrite.com

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