ONE OF Scotland’s most prominent unionist historians has performed a remarkable volte-face by declaring his support for Scottish independence.

Michael Fry, a former Scottish Conservative parliamentary candidate, says the break-up of Britain is now essential if Scotland is to thrive.

His conversion reflects the growing support north of the border for a separate Scotland, with more Scots now favouring independence from the UK.

On the eve of this week’s Tory conference in Bournemouth, Fry also accused the party leadership in Scotland of “appalling drift and complacency” and said it would be best if it “just died out”.

Fry’s change of heart on independence came as he was writing a book on the 1707 union between Scotland and England, which will mark its 300th anniversary on May 1 next year. The tricentenary falls just two days before the Scottish parliamentary elections on May 3, which are expected to see the strongest challenge for power yet from the Scottish National Party.

As a Conservative candidate at Westminster and Holyrood elections in the 1980s and 1990s, Fry was a staunch defender of the Union. “I have changed my mind,” he said. “I believe in an independent Scotland. I will do what I can to bring it about.”

“Devolution has proved to be completely hopeless, if anything making Scotland a worse country rather than a better country. We have to do something different. As I don’t think we can go back, we have to go forward.

“You can still do more and do better under independence than you can by rattling the begging bowl at the British government.”

Fry is one of Scotland’s most prolific historians. His books include a biography of Henry Dundas, who consolidated the Union in the 18th century; an examination of Scotland’s influence abroad in The Scottish Empire; and a history of the Highlands in Wild Scots.

Last year he caused outrage with his revisionist ideas about the Highland Clearances. He argued that they were an inevitable product of economic and agricultural change and attacked those who would romanticise a culture in which Scots were portrayed as victims.

Fry emphasised that his conversion to independence was in line with his Conservative philosophical outlook, and he pointed to Estonia and Ireland as two thriving sovereign states Scotland could emulate.

“This change of mind is owed, indeed, to a study of the Union, but also to pondering how devolution has served or might serve my yet more fundamental political beliefs. I believe in liberal democracy under a limited state kept prosperous by the capitalist system. I had hoped devolution might bring Scotland somewhat closer to that ideal — at least in its political aspect — though the economic aspect was always going to take a little longer.

“Instead, devolved Scotland has gone in the opposite direction. It is not liberal but illiberal. Its government is not limited but rampant. Its economics are not capitalist but statist — and not bringing prosperity either.”

Launching a withering attack on the Scottish Tories under Annabel Goldie for failing to push a true Conservative agenda north of the border, Fry said the party was terrified of the electorate and bereft of ideas. “Apart from a bit of ranting about law and order there is nothing. The cupboard is completely bare. The ageing leadership just hasn’t got the intellectual grasp or the political courage to face these problems squarely and try to do something about it.

Scottish Conservatives yesterday tried to play down Fry’s intervention. David Mundell, the shadow Scottish secretary, said: “Michael has always advocated things that attract attention.”

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