Jamie Stone: 'I was staring over a cliff edge'; Easter Ross MP scrapes home with 204-vote majority; Party review call as Lib Dems have 'terrible night'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
VETERAN Liberal Democrat Jamie Stone admitted he had been "staring over the cliff" in a contest that was too close to call until the very last minute.
He was returned to Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross with a majority of just 204 over his SNP challenger Karl Rosie.
He received 11,705 votes which was actually an increase in his share of the vote – but Mr Rosie’s more than seven per cent swing at the expense of the Conservatives and Labour pressed the Lib Dem candidate hard.
Mr Stone admitted relief after what was a major scare on a night which saw party leader Jo Swinson lose her seat. The party is now down to just 11 MPs.
Mr Stone said: "I am going to have to think about this because it was a pretty extraordinary night – let’s be honest, it was a bad night for the Lib Dems and a very, very good night for the SNP and yet in the last second I scraped through by 204 votes.
“I think my result and all the results of the Lib Dems is a wake-up call. Our delusions of grandeur and talk of 100 seats is just a handful of dust in our fingers.
“And as a party if we are serious about Liberalism we need to take a good look at ourselves and say what are we not doing that we should be doing, what are we not saying to the public that we should be saying?
“In the weeks and months ahead I intend to play a pretty big part in this because believe you me if you go through what I thought was almost a fire storm and then come out alive at the other end, as I just did, then it is a salutary lesson."
He added: "That said, yes, I am re-invigorated though I have to say in the short-term I am going to go to Tain and pour myself a large Glenmorangie. But having stared over the cliff of what nearly happened to me, you bet I am going to have a lot to say to party about how we want to sharpen up our act.
“The Highlands always were a stronghold for the Lib Dems but by jingo we have come a long way from that, have we not?
“But starting with an excellent group of councillors in the Highlands we can start to build with and we have to start to build – if we don’t we will have another election like this in five year’s time.”
