The first of two Conservative leadership contests has concluded and today it has been announced that the new leader of the Scottish party is Russell Findlay. The former crime journalist was widely seen as the party establishment favourite after former leader Douglas Ross announced he would be resigning from the post in June. Now Findlay faces the rather daunting prospect of reuniting his group after months of bad briefings mired the race in scandal. Best of luck…
Ross stepped down after losing the support of his colleagues when he ousted ill colleague David Duguid in the Westminster parliamentary selection process. Not long after the ex-party leader had announced he would be standing in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray West constituency, Ross made another announcement – that he felt it wasn’t ‘feasible’ to stand as both an MP and an MSP, as well as party leader. How curious. The move prompted a leadership contest that would run parallel to the UK party’s race but conclude slightly earlier at the end of September.
Yet this wasn’t the end of the Ross-related drama. Halfway through the race, four of the six candidates released a joint statement calling for the contest to be paused in light of ‘disturbing claims’ about the outgoing leader. A report in the Telegraph claimed that Ross wanted to ditch the top job over a year ago – to coronate Findlay – prompted concerns about an establishment plot to fix the race. Findlay’s allies insisted at the time there was ‘not a shred of evidence’ to back up the fears – but that didn’t stop whisperings about the whole matter in certain factions of the party. Three of the candidates then pulled out of the competition to throw their weight behind main rival to Findlay, Murdo Fraser MSP. Yet just days before the race’s result was announced, Fraser admitted he didn’t expect to win against the ‘party establishment’ choice of Findlay. Talk about a rollercoaster, eh?
While the new leader will be celebrating his victory, it’s not all good news for Findlay. Less than 60 per cent of Scottish Tory members – just under 7,000 in total – turned out to vote, which comes in at fewer members than Alex Salmond’s Alba party reported in its latest accounts. Findlay has vowed today to restore trust in his party, insisting:
Everyone in our party must come together as one united team. Let’s start the hard work right now – today – to win back public trust. I want to deliver a message directly to people across Scotland who don’t feel anyone represents them, who are scunnered by the divisive policies and fringe obsessions of the Scottish parliament, who feel let down and failed by politicians of every party – including ours, who think politicians are all the same. If you feel that way, I get it. But I am not the same. I’m not a career politician. I understand your frustration and your sense that nobody really represents your views or speaks up for you. That’s going to change. Under my leadership the Scottish Conservatives are going to change.
He’s certainly got his work cut out…
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