Ruth Davidson A 32-year-old lesbian who is an ex-Territorial Army officer, a former journalist and a current kick-boxer has been elected leader of the Scottish Conservatives, by a tidy margin. Ruth Davidson, who was regarded as the favourite of the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron, was chosen to lead the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party after a brutal leadership campaign. "With the radical, generational change that I represent, this is a unique opportunity for us to rebuild the party and to once again become a powerful, meaningful and relevant force in Scottish politics and in Scottish life," she said after her victory. The Guardian reports she campaigned vigorously against rival Murdo Fraser's dramatic proposals to scrap the party and replace it with a new "progressive" organisation which would be independent of David Cameron's Tories. The Conservative Party's LGBT group LGBTory's Deputy Chairman Emma Warman has told QueerUK: "I am delighted to hear that Ruth Davidson has been elected as leader of the Scottish Conservatives. In politics, gay women, like women generally, are hugely under-represented compared to our male counterparts. There are very few gay women in frontline politics - only two in the UK Parliament, for example."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 5th November 2011 - 6:15pm