Project Fear: How an Unlikely Alliance Left a Kingdom United but a Country Divided by Joe Pike

Author:Joe Pike [Joe Pike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Ideologies, Political Science, Political Process, General, Nationalism & Patriotism, Campaigns & Elections
ISBN: 9781849549950
Google: QBWNCgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2015-09-18T21:10:02+00:00

THREE DAYS TO GO

David Cameron made his final intervention in the campaign on Monday 15 September, three days before the vote. A copy of his speech, delivered at a conference centre in Aberdeen, had been sent in advance to Gordon Brown for feedback. Brown made just two minor suggestions.

First, he advised Cameron to clearly make the point that a No vote did not mean no change, and to hammer home the message that Scots could have change without the risk of independence. Second, Brown advised his successor to reinforce the point that Scotland is helping to shape and change the UK, and a No vote is a patriotically Scottish thing to do.

Neither politician could have expected, even a few months earlier, that, after Brown’s painful defeat in 2010, they would build a strong, productive working relationship. The pair spoke on the telephone at least twice, and continued contact through their respective advisers. ‘They are opponents but members of the club of prime ministers,’ explained one source close to the action. ‘What came through in their conversations was that, with the Isis hostage situation and Boko Haram, Gordon could understand the pressure the Prime Minister was facing: there were lots of big issues on the agenda.’

The original plan was for the Daily Record’s ‘The Vow’ front page – a cross-party commitment to further devolution – to be designed on Sunday 14 September for the Monday paper. However, on the Saturday, David Haines, an aid worker from Perth who had been kidnapped by Islamic State, was beheaded. ‘The Vow’ was, of course, delayed.

On Monday night, a day later than planned, Foote and his team put the finishing touches to their paper: the front page mocked up like a vellum scroll with the headline ‘The Vow’ in thick black capital letters. At the bottom were the signatures of David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. It read:

The people of Scotland want to know that all three main parties will deliver change for Scotland.

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