Glasgow riots: Huge fights break out at protest as hundreds clash in bitter unity feuds

[Denzil_DC]

5. I've mentioned before the courting of Orange Order "loyalists" by Ruth Davidson et al.

I was reminded yesterday that their influence stretches beyond the streets, the voting booth and certain council seats (this is from last February):

Secret Brexit meeting between Orange Order and Scottish Tory minister

TORY Scotland Office minister Ian Duncan met with the Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland ahead of a key Brexit vote at Westminster.

Lord Duncan, who is parliamentary under secretary of state at the Scotland and Northern Ireland offices, was one of a handful of Scottish politicians lobbied at a meeting with top Orange Order officials from different parts of the UK ahead of the meaningful vote on Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement.

According to the most recent issue of the Lodge’s in-house magazine The Torch, “the Grand Masters met with politicians and their advisers from across the party spectrum”.

Among the “notable Scottish politicians” present, it says, were Scottish Labour MP Hugh Gaffney and LibDem peer Malcolm Bruce, and his MP colleague Alistair Carmichael – although the magazine mistakenly calls him Alistair Campbell.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/17404171.secret-brexit-meeting-between-orange-order-and-scottish-tory-minister/