Philip Lardner reinstated

Philip Lardner has been reinstated by the Scottish Conservative Party as our candidate for North Ayrshire and Arran.
 
Philip is an excellent Conservative and a member of The Freedom Association (TFA).  I recently shared a platform with him at a large TFA meeting in Gloucestershire.  In June he was ambushed by a hack from The Sunday Herald, a Scottish newspaper.  His comments were deliberately taken out of context and twisted to present him as some kind of extremist.  One of his worst sins was to make a disobliging remark about Edward Heath.  (This is something I do not infrequently, and I find it always elicits a very positive response from Conservative audiences).
 
Given the furore created by the press report, the Party decided to suspend Philip as a candidate.  I and other colleagues felt that any blame in the case rested with the paper and not with the candidate.  Philip has now expressed “regret for any offence caused by remarks attributed to him”, he has been reinstated, and a line can be drawn.  But his reinstatement is a minor victory for common sense in the party.  I am looking forward to seeing Philip again, and sharing another platform with him, in Renfrew on September 19th.