HIS day job as a spin doctor is to put the best possible gloss on the activities of Scottish Labour.
But party press officer Andrew Liddle may have to use his skills of persuasion to win over colleagues about a curious side project.
Liddle, who has impeccable New Labour connections - his father Roger, now Baron Liddle, was an adviser to Tony Blair - has written a book about the “resurgence” of the Scottish Tories under Ruth Davidson.
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The biography, out in the New Year, focuses on how Davidson “revitalised” the Tory brand north of the border, a feat that included hammering his own party three times.
A former journalist, Liddle quit his job as a political reporter to become part of the Kezia Dugdale spin machine during her unsuccessful two-year spell as leader.
Liddle has a literary hinterland and had already edited a book on what was described as the “entertaining selection” of sayings by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
He is believed to have started 'Ruth Davidson And The Resurgence Of The Scottish Tories' before he started working for Labour.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “Even top Labour spin doctors are recognising the remarkable success of the Scottish Tories under Ruth Davidson’s leadership. However, the extraordinary aspect of this is that, rather than learn lessons from this success, Labour seem determined under Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard to drag themselves to the extreme irrelevance of the far left.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “We don’t comment on staff."