Braden Davy

Braden Davy is a Scottish Conservative politician. He was elected to Angus Council in May 2017.^[1]

Personal and work life

Davy was born in Bishop Auckland and was educated at Hirst High School, Ashington and Durham University where he received a certificate in Economics. Davy became involved in youth politics whilst high at school.^[2] In 2011, Davy was part of a campaign encouraging residents of Northumbria to list their nationality as Northumbrian on their census returns.^[3]

Davy moved to Aberdeen in 2012, taking a management position with McDonald's before working as a Parliamentary Assistant to Dame Anne Begg, the Labour MP for Aberdeen South.^[4]

In 2015 Davy joined the Royal Naval Reserves and currently serves as a Sub-lieutenant,^[5] while studying for an M.Sc. in economics at the University of Edinburgh.

Davy was an assistant director of the Scottish Vote Leave campaign during the EU membership referendum.^[6]

In 2016 Davy quit Scottish Labour and joined the Scottish Conservatives citing Labour's "Patronising" attitude to Leave voters and "weak stance" on independence.^[7][8] Shortly after his defection from Labour, Davy started work as a Parliamentary Assistant to Ross Thomson, who at that time was an MSP for the North East Scotland Region, and went on to become his Office Manager. Later that year, Thomson was forced to repay an expenses claim for a hotel room which he and Davy had shared in Edinburgh.^[9]

He is a member of the Electoral Reform Society.^[5]

In 2021, Davy was embroiled in a controversy when a number of newspapers unmasked him as an online anti-SNP troll. He was accused of using anonymous accounts on Facebook to spread malicious content about political opponents.^[10] Davy was roundly criticised by anti-bullying campaigners and faced the prospect of a police probe into his conduct.^[11] He subsequently resigned from the ruling administration at Angus Council.^[12]

Political career

Davy first stood as a Scottish Labour Party candidate in the 2012 Aberdeenshire Council election coming fourth in the First-preference votes in the Mid-Formartine ward. He stood again for Labour in the 2015 United Kingdom general election taking on Alex Salmond in the Gordon constituency, and again came fourth in the poll.

Standing as a Scottish Conservative candidate, Davy was elected to Angus Council in the 2017 Scottish local elections topping the First-preference votes in the Forfar & District ward.^[13]

Davy was unsuccessful standing as the Scottish Conservative candidate for Angus North and Mearns in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election where he came second to the SNP.

References

1. "Angus Council election results — Veteran Glennis Middleton loses out in Ward 3: Forfar and District". The Courier.
2. "BBC Your Stories > Braden Davy". BBC. 24 February 2009.
3. . Archived from the original on 22 March 2016.
4. "Electoral Commission - Vote Leave Ltd designation application" (PDF). Electoral Commission.
5. "Interests notified by Councillor Davy" (PDF). Angus Council.
6. "Tories select Brexit campaign boss for Holyrood seat". The Herald.
7. Culberson, Alex (25 September 2016). "Scottish Labour hopeful defects to Tories over failure to back Brexit and push UK union". Daily Express.
8. Hutcheon, Paul (25 September 2016). "Labour candidate defects to Tories over party's "weak" stance on independence". The Herald.
9. Sanderson, Daniel (6 October 2016). "Tory MSP repays expenses after aide's hotel stay". The Herald.
10. Brady, Jon (1 July 2021). "Angus Council: Criticism piles high as second troll unmasked". The Scotsman.
11. Healey, Derek (1 July 2021). "EXCLUSIVE: Top Tory councillor Braden Davy could face police probe over anti-SNP troll account as he quits administration". The Courier.
12. Healey, Derek (30 June 2021). "EXCLUSIVE: Braden Davy is second Angus Tory councillor unmasked as anti-SNP troll". The Courier.
13. "Scottish council elections 2017". Angus Council.