Ruth Davidson had mental health concerns over leader roleon January 17, 2022 at 12:10 am

Former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has revealed that she almost did not run for leader in case her mental health history became known.

The Tory peer was diagnosed with clinical depression in her first year of university.

She also told a podcast she was “really annoyed” to be described as a lesbian kickboxer during the leadership contest in 2011.

Lady Davidson became leader in November that year and became a peer last year.

She said that when she was diagnosed with depression about 20 years ago, people did not talk about mental health issues as much. “It was very shameful. I didn’t want anyone to know,” she said.

She told the Desperately Seeking Wisdom with Craig Oliver podcast she wanted to be able to talk about her mental health “on my own terms” so she could “own the way in which it was presented”.

Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links, who served as an MSP from 2011 to 2021, said: “I considered not throwing my hat in the ring for leader in case my medical history came out.

“I’m trying to remember dates, but I became leader in 2011, so it would be after the press got hold of Gordon Brown’s children’s medical records, which felt like a really egregious breach.

“But the idea that the papers had the power to find out and open up people’s medical records, why wouldn’t somebody want to find that out about the new leader of the Tories in Scotland?”

Lady Davidson has worked with mental health charity the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) during her time in politics and said she was pleased she had the opportunity to open up about mental health issues, saying it would have helped her at the time of her own diagnosis to see someone speaking out.

She said: “I think at that time, I was just starting at uni, I had big dreams, everyone does – but the idea that you could go on and have a big job, that you could be in the public eye, you could be in politics at all, and have this big, shameful secret… it didn’t occur to me.

“I thought that that was my ambition over. I hope that somebody out there was helped by the fact that they could see, you know, a politician or Prince Harry talking about it.

“When you see people in a space that you’re interested in, I hope it helps.”

Speaking about being described as a lesbian kickboxer during the Scottish Conservative leadership contest in 2011, she told the podcast: “I’ll tell you why it annoyed me. One, because I’d stopped kickboxing years before, so it wasn’t even true. And two because it was so reductive, and it was reductive to try and make a point.

“There were four people in that leadership election and every single other one of them was referred to in the papers by their job apart from me.

“So it was deputy leader Margot Fraser, transport spokesman, Jackson Carlaw, justice convener Margaret Mitchell and lesbian kickboxer Ruth Davidson. And it was so reductive and it was so dismissive.”

Lady Davidson became the first UK party leader to give birth in office when she had baby Finn in October 2018 with her partner, Jen Wilson.

She cited both “professional and personal” reasons for her decision to step down as Tory leader in August 2019.

The Tory peer told the podcast she promised she would not take on any big jobs until her son was at school, and added: “This is one of the promises I want to stick to.”

Lady Davidson previously said her mental heath suffered after a boy from her village took his own life when she was 17 and she started to self-harm. She was diagnosed with clinical depression a year later.

If you are struggling with mental health issues you can call Samaritans free on 116 123 (UK and Ireland) or visit the BBC Action Line website.