Grant Shapps: Not a single Tory MP has said to me they’d be happy to see Scotland leave

Running the Coalition Government is like bringing together both sides of the Old Firm.

The traditional Ne’erday derby between Rangers and Celtic may be a thing of the past, but Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps invokes the Old Firm spirit in describing life inside the Coalition Government.

Despite their differences Shapps explained that going into the last full year of this coalition his party and the Lib Dems will continue to work together.

He said: “We have profound differences with our coalition partners on all sorts of issues. Yet we’re able to work in a perfectly personable and collegiate way.

“If you support Celtic and I support Rangers we can get along. We all accept you can support two different football teams and go to the pub together.”

Shapps, who represents the leafy Hertfordshire seat of Welwyn Hatfield, may not be entirely au fait with the dynamics of the relationship between Rangers and Celtic supporters.

Or given his obvious distaste for having to work with the Lib Dems maybe he is.

He added: “People said right at the beginning that this coalition wouldn’t last, that it was an interesting aberration in British politics.

“But the big surprise for most Brits is that it has lasted.

“You might not like it or love it and personally I don’t but it has delivered on the thing on which we were elected which is deal with the deficit, deal with the mess that was left behind and get this country on a stronger footing for the future.

“There’s a lot I could say about not liking being in coalition.

“But at a time of national crisis when we could so easily today be Greece or Spain or France with our economy not growing, instead we took those difficult decisions and are finally starting to turn the economy around.”

Expect to hear Shapps talking a lot more about the economy in 2014.

Finishing the job is the big narrative the Conservatives want to push and, as party chairman, he’ll be out front making that point.

He said: “After some very tough years and big sacrifices by people such as Sunday Post readers and their families, the plan is working and what we need to do is finish the job.”

Labour claim the recovery is not being felt by ordinary people but by the privileged few, such as those at the top of the Tory party.

Shapps, who made his fortune writing business books under a pen name, seems willing to take that on board.

“With an economy you can see all these figures and statistics but you and your family don’t feel that immediately in the family budget.

“But you have to start somewhere, you have to start with those order books, those businesses in Edinburgh in finance, in Birmingham in manufacturing, in Aberdeen in oil. That process has to start.

“First of all you see it in figures, what we need to do is make sure this is a recovery for all and that everyone benefits.”

Shapps’s role takes in party organisation and campaigning. His New Year message that will be hitting Conservative inboxes this week will urge them to campaign around two vital dates in 2014 the European elections in May in which Ukip are hoping to top the Tories and the Scottish independence referendum in September.

He said: “Both are very important but the second one in historic terms is critically vital to the future of Scotland, the future of Britain and the UK.

“We have a historic union that’s paid dividends socially and economically for the whole of the UK and it would be a tragedy to throw that all away now.”

He claims the Conservatives’ enthusiasm for the union is proof of an altruistic streak in politicians. He sent out a message to Scotland: “You may not vote for us but here is the evidence that not all politicians are out for themselves or out for their own party.

“It’s fair to say as chairman of the Conservative party we’re not fighting for Scotland to stay in the union for our own political advantage. So you cannot doubt our motives when I say the UK should stick together.”

And he denies there’s a streak of Tory thinking that would actually be keen for Scotland to secede.

He said: “I can exclusively reveal that not a single Tory MP has said to me they’d be happy to see Scotland leave.

“I think it’s really important that Scots know the whole of the UK wants Scotland to remain an integral part of our great nation and I’ll be encouraging Conservative members to make that very clear.”