David Maddox: Westminster parties have begun to recruit top names in the political battle for Scotland

THE detail of how and when a Scottish independence referendum will take place may yet to be agreed, but already the campaign teams are being put in place by the pro-UK parties.

Symbolic of that was the arrival this week of Ramsay Jones, the veteran Tory spin doctor in Holyrood, as a special advisor for the UK government.

The move, apparently planned for months, will mean that the Tory part of the coalition will at last have a direct Scottish link between the lobby in Westminster, where many journalists for London-based titles are still playing catch up on the issue, and will be able to get their message across as opposed to the Lib Dem side of the coalition which was meant to run Scotland.

The Lib Dems have had their troops in place for a little longer, Euan Roddin at the Scotland Office and just before Christmas, Christine Jardine in Downing Street.

But Tory Chancellor George Osborne has taken change of the Scottish question. So the arrival of Mr Jones is significant because it is clear that the Tories have decided that the Lib Dems cannot be allowed to deal with Scotland alone, not least because the Conservative approach is far more aggressive than the one Michael Moore first pursued.

Mr Jones, who knows the patch inside out, will be working out of Dover House, the Scotland Office in Whitehall, but it seems he will be floating between there and Downing Street. And, although the talk is working in partnership, it seems obvious that this is part of the process of the Conservatives taking control of the policy.

The change will be good for Mr Jones as well after a difficult few months. Despite giving long service for the party in hard times he was not flavour of the month among some of the defeated candidates in the recent Scottish leadership election and at one point asked to take gardening leave for allegedly supporting the eventual winner Ruth Davidson. The suggestion was that Mr Cameron wanted Ms Davidson as leader as well so if there was a transgression it has now been rewarded with a promotion.

Meanwhile, Labour is also moving its resources around for the fight ahead, perhaps sensing that its political fortunes, more than any party’s, is dependent on Scotland staying in the UK.

Significantly Alan Gillam, one of Labour’s most respected backroom operators, has returned from a sojourn to his post as shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran’s aide and co-ordinate the campaign.

And at last week’s shadow cabinet meeting the redoubtable shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran told her colleagues in no uncertain terms that she “will hunt them down individually” if they don’t give her what she needs to take on the SNP.

Not surprisingly they promised to make Scotland a top priority and she will get what she needs starting with high profile visits in the next fortnight.