And so now we have it: the first official contender for the Scottish Conservative leadership contest. Russell Findlay, the party’s current justice spokesperson announced this morning that he was throwing his hat into the ring — after his party’s rather underwhelming general election campaign.
In a lengthy article for the Scottish Daily Mail, Findlay first paid tribute to former leader Ruth Davidson, hailing her leadership for making the party a serious force in Scottish politics. ‘We need to build on that legacy, not tear it down,’ the shadow justice secretary wrote. A little less kind to the party’s more recent approach, however, Findlay went on:
We’ve not been conservative enough… We haven’t given people a positive conservative vision to believe in. The fact is that over recent years the Scottish Conservative Party has been philosophically adrift, defined by our opposition to a dominant and divisive SNP, not by our own vision for Scotland. This has been bad not just for our party, but also for the country since it has deprived voters of a meaningful choice in ideas.
Ouch. Continuing, Findlay pledged:
Under my leadership that core purpose will be renewed. We will reconnect with our traditional values of enterprise, self-reliance, fiscal responsibility and the rule of law… Surely few can disagree with the need for this common-sense conservative approach in Scotland, one where get-up-and-go is valued, ambition is encouraged, where our driving goal for the economy is to create top-quality jobs that drive growth, and where the benefits of a vibrant economy are shared across society.
Strong stuff. And while the former investigative journalist has been slammed by rivals for being the token establishment candidate, Findlay has been rather keen to differentiate himself from the rest of the Scottish political class — blasting most of them as ‘a self-satisfied left-wing intelligentsia’. Turning to the issue of Holyrood’s other main parties, Findlay first lambasted the SNP for running an ‘ever-more intrusive government [that] pokes and pries its way into every corner of our lives’ before hitting out at Labour for its ‘belief in state intervention first, personal initiative a distant second’. He’s certainly pulling no punches…
Rival contenders are likely to declare in the not-so-distant future with some expected to propose some rather, er, radical ideas about the relationship between the Scottish and UK parties. With competition ramping up from other sides of his party, will Findlay’s pitch be enough? Stay tuned…
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