Back to Scotland, where the third official candidate in the Scottish Tory leadership contest has been announced. Meghan Gallacher, the current deputy of the party, has entered the race following weeks of speculation about whether she would stand. Calling for a party ‘reset’, Gallacher insists she wants to build a ‘modern, centre right party’ focusing on the right to buy a home and support for pensioners and parents.‘Scotland knows what we stand against,’ she declared in a Twitter video posted this morning, ‘but do they know what we stand for?’ Ouch.
Douglas Ross’s second-in-command joins ex-Olympian Brian Whittle and justice spokesperson Russell Findlay in the race to become the next party leader, with more announcements expected down the line. While former athlete Whittle isn’t going easy on sporting metaphors — announcing he will help the party ‘prepare for the next race’ — former investigative reporter Findlay has blasted the ‘self-satisfied left-wing intelligentsia’ that he believes makes up most of the Scottish political class, and has pledged to help the party ‘reconnect with our traditional values’. Seen as the favourite to win, Findlay has already secured the backing of Rachael Hamilton MSP, Sandesh Gulhane MSP and Aberdeenshire MP Andrew Bowie. Game on…
Gallacher’s decision to enter the race coincides with the publication of the contest timetable. Each candidate requires the backing of 100 party members to progress to formally stand, with nominations to close on the 22 August and the winner announced on 27 September. It means that the Scottish group will have a new leader in time for this year’s party conference — and over a month before the UK party decides who will succeed Rishi Sunak. But not everyone has been left happy about the timeline, with potential candidate Jamie Greene among some in the party who want to see an extension added. Greene has blasted the party for cramming hustings into a school holiday period, and raged in an apparent swipe at frontrunner Findlay: ‘The race to save the party’s future is now formally on, although it’s a strange race given that one of the runners appears to have left the starting blocks early. My immediate reaction [to the timetable] was that they may as well just hand the keys to the leader’s office to their preferred candidate now, and we can all have a nice summer.’ Talk about pulling no punches…
UK party candidates have already been warned of ‘yellow card’ sanctions if contest infighting gets too heated. Will the Scottish crowd heed this warning and keep their contest civil? Stay tuned…
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