Heading into the General Election campaign, Perth and Kinross-shire Tory hopeful Luke Graham knew it was going to be uphill battle to unseat SNP veteran Pete Wishart.
As the Conservative campaign nationally collapsed under the weight of scandal and prime-ministerial gaffes, Mr Graham has soldiered on.
He has spoken to tens of thousands of voters, and a visit from former prime minister Theresa May on Saturday boosted his campaign as it heads into the final week.
The former MP, who lost his seat in 2019, is hoping voters in the new Perth and Kinross-shire constituency will give him a second chance.
It’s a victory the polls predict is unlikely, with a comfortable majority forecast for SNP candidate Pete Wishart.
Mr Graham, though, says his campaign is picking up a mood among voters the pollsters may be missing.
Speaking after Mrs May’s visit, he said: “We’re picking up a lot on the doorsteps of people who’ve voted SNP in the past but not this time.
“I want to reach out to every voters and build trust.
“The SNP have had over 20 years to make a difference in Perth and Kinross-shire.
“The city is in the state that it is; we’ve got rising drug deaths, fewer police, and major issues in our local education and health as well.
“They’ve had the MP, the MSP and, for the majority of time, the local council as well.
“They love power but hate responsibility. People need to hold them to account.”
Despite the polls, Theresa May told reporters on Saturday that she “never predicted” elections.
She said: “There is only one poll that matters, and that’s the one on 4 July, not the ones printed in the press.
“If you look at the Conservative Party’s record, millions of pounds has come into Perth as part of the Tay Cities Deal, which was done by a Conservative government.
“We have a record people can be proud of.”
Mr Graham said the campaign had been a marathon, but that he was excited to head into the final week.
He told the The Courier: “We have been out campaigning for the past year now.
“It’s exciting to be in the final week. I’ve been very lucky, [Theresa May] made a real effort to come up.
“People were saying ‘are you actually Theresa May’?”
Mr Graham took the former prime minister to see the Stone of Destiny exhibition at the new Perth Museum.
Mr Graham, who was an MP while Mrs May was in government, said he aspired to ideals emulated by the former Tory leader.
He added: “I think she’s the kind of political leader, where if you agree with here or not you can admire her sense of public duty.
“We do need a few more of politicians who see it as a duty and not a lifestyle.”
One Scottish Tory source said Mr Graham had played the campaign “perfectly”.
“This has been a very hard election but Luke has got on with his own local message.
“Theresa May is exactly the right kind of figure to bring to Perth and it will remind people of what we can do in office at our best.”
Perthshire residents ‘will see through hollow visit’
SNP candidate Pete Wishart said: “The people of Perth and Kinross-shire will see right through a hollow visit from a former Tory prime minister who left behind a legacy of inflicting deep public service cuts with austerity, a disastrous Brexit, and deeply damaging hostile approach to immigration.
“With both the Tories and the Labour Party signed up to Brexit, £18 billion pounds of cuts to our public services and further attacks of migration – despite businesses in Perth and Kinross-shire crying out for greater access to labour – it’s clear only the SNP offers Scotland the hope of a better future, but we have to vote for it.
“If people in Scotland want to make sure that Scotland’s interests are put first, if they want to ensure that we have an end to cuts, if they want to ensure that decisions about Scotland are made in Scotland, for Scotland, then they’ve got to vote SNP on Thursday 4th July.”
Other candidates standing in Perth and Kinross-shire include Amanda Clark (Liberal Democrat), Graham Cox (Labour), Sally Hughes (Independent), Helen McDade (Reform UK).
Conversation