STEPHEN DAISLEY: Kate Forbes is smart, talented, thoughtful and open-minded... 
no wonder she didn't fit the bill at Holyrood

By STEPHEN DAISLEY, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL SKETCH WRITER Published: 21:36, 5 July 2026 | Updated: 21:38, 5 July 2026 The best part about Kate Forbes rebuking the Scottish political class for being chronically insular and out of touch has been the Scottish political class reacting in the most chronically insular and out-of-touch way possible. Much of the commentary, and no small amount of the reporting, of the former deputy first minister’s speech to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) has centred on that organisation’s ‘far-Right’ orientation.  In this case, as in many others, it is the Bluesky definition of ‘far-Right’ being used: anyone to the right of Rory Stewart. The BBC informs us ARC’s line-up of speakers previously ‘featured Right-wing figures including Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch and Boris Johnson’. So, a liberal nationalist, a liberal Thatcherite, and a liberal One Nationer. Does anyone have Prevent on speed dial? Forbes recounted how she was advised to misrepresent her stance on gay marriage if she wanted to win the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader. She told conference attendees: ‘All these wonderfully committed team members, who wanted me to win, had great advice: just lie and you’ll be fine. ‘I ended the first 24 hours thankful that, in the face of the questions, I hadn’t crumbled. The end result felt like a victory because during that period I had not given in when I could have.’ In a speech to the ARC, Kate Forbes said she was advised to misrepresent her stance on gay marriage if she wanted to win the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader This particular outbreak of hysteria lanyardia is instructive. The topic of Forbes’s speech was how to lead with integrity. I consider her leadership election campaign to have been a textbook example of integrity in politics – and exactly where it gets you. At the time, her Unionist detractors conceded that Forbes had shown mettle. Where other politicians might have lied about their beliefs – or, say, found a meeting to attend when the vote was taking place – the Highlander told the truth. She was a Bible-believing Christian and if that meant she couldn’t be First Minister then so be it. It was hypocritical of those who professed tolerance yet were unable to tolerate a disbeliever in same-sex marriage in Bute House, even one who had undertaken to leave the law as it stood, but hypocrisy is hardly unusual in politics. In point of fact, Forbes wasn’t set upon because of her views on gay marriage or transgender rights. The political class and the Left-liberal media are enthusiasts of uncontrolled immigration, which brings with it a significant number of new voters whose attitudes towards gays and trans people make Forbes sound like Maggie Chapman. No, Forbes was anathematised because she was a Christian and, specifically, a Christian who refused to back away from her faith under pressure, even if it cost her the top job. It was this her pursuers considered disqualifying. Her belief in a power higher than politics was disconcerting to those for whom politics is the whole of their lives, and not just disconcerting but dangerous: her loyalty to the Almighty placed her beyond their control. She set her affection on things above, not on things on the earth, and esteemed God’s commands over their approval. She chose Him over them. As the renowned Scottish-born pastor Alistair Begg says: ‘If you live in such a manner as to stand the test of the last judgment, you can depend upon it that the world will not speak well of you.’ Yet, as Forbes noted in her remarks, some did speak well of her. While she was vilified by the elites, she kept meeting members of the public who confessed that, though they disagreed with her politically, they admired her candour and commitment to her principles. Forbes once told me the opinion poll she trusted most was her regular visits to a hair salon in Inverness, where other customers were not shy about letting her know where the Scottish Government was going right – and wrong. Fielding complaints about tax policy amidst blaring blow-dryers and hissing hairsprays is hardly glamorous but it’s what politics is about when politics is about the people. The alternative is the Potemkin democracy practised by too many politicians today: fund lobby group, get lobbied by lobby group, pass legislation for lobby group, pose for pictures with lobby group. They have so little contact with the electorate that every time they venture out in public they expect to step into a scene from Adolescence or one of those far-Right indoctrination storylines from Doctor Who. It must be confusing for them when they go round the doors at election time, preparing for streets teeming with white supremacists, incels, and middle-aged women orchestrating a trans genocide, and instead all they find are middle-of-the-road voters wanting to talk about bin collections and waiting times for hip operations.  ‘I see, Mrs McDrummond, and I suppose it was Elon Musk’s algorithms that radicalised you on weekly uplifts?’ So navel-gazing is our political class that, just two months on from the Holyrood elections, they have memory-holed the ten per cent collapse in turnout. Forty-seven per cent of Scots were either so indifferent or so thoroughly scunnered that they chose to stay at home. The lack of curiosity over what is driving this disengagement from Holyrood politics is odd. Unless, of course, the political class is not asking the question because they suspect they are the answer. Many, if not most, MSPs are positively fixated on gender theory, Palestine, refugees and Donald Trump, an agenda interrupted occasionally by non-binding independence votes and frowny faces over the North Sea layoffs they spent years agitating for. Somewhere along the way, Holyrood decided to stop being a national parliament and become a safe space for passive-aggressive weirdos with humanities degrees. It’s hard to believe such an institution would become irrelevant for half the electorate. There is little that goes on at the Scottish parliament that is about or to the benefit of the Scottish people. Holyrood’s purpose now is to sustain itself, and the taxpayer-funded lanyard class that inhabits it, not to serve the ordinary voters or the national interest. Politics has become the ultimate elite sport and someone like Kate Forbes will never make the cut. Kemi Badenoch is also among the politicians to have spoken at the ARC She sounds too much like the average voter – not on same-sex marriage, where she is in the minority, but in her general attitude and approach to politics. For Forbes, politics is not an identity, an alternative to therapy, or an opportunity for revenge on your school bullies. Politics is a means to an end and when those means are watched over by someone with character there is a chance they might advance the common good. Forbes stood down at the last election, and maybe that’s just as well. She is smart, talented, thoughtful, and open-minded but there is no call for these qualities any more. If anything, they are a hindrance and particularly if they are yoked to a spirit of democratic pluralism. The priorities of Scotland’s political class are not those of the public. Most belong to a narrow consensus in which the chief concerns are identity politics, Net Zero, open borders, and a poisonous stakeholderism that addresses itself to ‘communities’ rather than individuals. If you must think, make sure you think the same as everyone else at Holyrood, and don’t pay heed to those divisive extremists who call themselves the voters. Kate Forbes did, and look what happened to her. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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