All is not well in the Scottish Tory party. Now four of the six candidates have released a statement calling for the leadership race to be paused until they receive assurances on the contest’s ‘transparency and fairness’. The letter, signed by Murdo Fraser, Jamie Greene, Liam Kerr and Brian Whittle, is addressed to the party’s management board and comes in light of ‘disturbing claims’ about outgoing leader Douglas Ross. Oh dear…
The Telegraph reported this morning that according to senior sources in the party, Ross wanted to ditch the leadership role over a year ago and coronate the current frontrunner Russell Findlay. Ross – who at the time was both an MP and MSP – previously insisted that he wanted to step down as a Member of Parliament at the 2024 general election. Yet party insiders say the Scottish Tory leader approached his consistency’s prospective Conservative candidate, Kathleen Robertson, in July 2023 to ask her to stand aside so he could be selected. Ross reportedly told Robertson he would quit as leader immediately if she agreed, and said she would chosen for the equivalent Holyrood seat instead as ‘his heart was in Westminster, not Holyrood’. Robertson ultimately declined the offer.
For her part Robertson has confirmed the conversation did indeed take place. Meanwhile the Scottish Conservative party has admitted: ‘Some months later, Kathleen Robertson separately informed the chairman and the party director about this meeting and said she wished this matter to remain confidential and required them to do nothing further.’ How curious…
Meanwhile Findlay’s allies insist there is ‘not a shred of evidence’ to back up any kind of establishment plot to bag him the top job. But two-thirds of the leadership contenders are adamant that they are ‘deeply concerned’ about the revelations while a fifth candidate, Meghan Gallacher, has resigned from her post as deputy leader of the Scottish Tories over the ‘concerning allegations’. Their letter contains eight questions for their party management, including queries about the Robertson-Ross conversation, information about the decision to oust Westminster candidate David Duguid for Ross and whether the ongoing contest has been affected ‘in terms of fairness, scrutiny and transparency’. Crikey. It’s shaping up to be quite the competition…
Comments