The Conservatives in Scotland - a new push?

David Cameron made his first major speech in Scotland at the end of the week, promising never, ever [to] take Scotland for granted, acknowledging that the Pary's position here is "pretty dismal", with the Scottish Conservatives largely being considered irrelevant in Scottish politics (the last bit is the view of this blogger - Ed). Now I read that Party Chairman, Francis Maude, has met people from two gay organisations in Scotland, during the same visit to Scotland by Cameron, saying:

"I'm passionate about the equality agenda. We work very closely with Stonewall in London and as Conservatives in Scotland we want to have the same relationship."

I hope all this works, of course. Quite apart from my generally 'Conservative' tendency, the Party in Scotland has a long way to go to break out of its tired old persona, a move which becomes ever more necessary given a recent poll indicating that sentiment for Scottish 'independence' seems to be growing, even allowing for the froth generated by the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections.