Jamie Greene makes ‘open plea’ for others to join him in fleeing Scottish Tories

The former Tory MSP was unveiled at the Lib Dem conference in Inverness on Friday, telling activists: "I'm not sure who's more surprised to see me here, you or me.”

The West Scotland MSP resigned from the Tory group in Holyrood on Thursday, and claimed his inbox was “full” of people who supported the decision.

Appearing on the BBC's The Sunday Show, he said: “If people like me are leaving the Conservatives, they have to have a think about that. There are two ways in which they could have reacted. One is the direction of travel they’ve taken, which is to double down, and go on the attack.

The other better option would be to have a period of reflection. Why is the party losing people who joined in 2016 under Ruth Davidson?

“Some of my colleagues are commenting on social media and the sort of reaction I'm getting I think completely vindicates the decision. I knew in my heart of hearts, I couldn’t go on the way I was, and there’s so many people in the Conservative party at the moment who feel the same, and I know because my inbox is full of them.

“I am going to make an open plea to people over the Easter recess. I want them to think in their heart of hearts, are you happy? Are you comfortable? If you’re not, come and join me.”

The development means the Lib Dems now have five MSPs in their Holyrood group and the Tories have 30.

Mr Greene described the prospect of staying with the Scottish Tories as “intolerable”, and criticised the language used by his former party about the LGBT community.

He said: “Intolerable is probably the right word. I think over a period of time, I'd felt increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of travel of the Scottish Conservatives, the language that was being used by their press office, by their social media presence, and also the language being used in the chamber.

“Sticking the words dangerous ideology before something when you're talking, for example, about the LGBT community, which I'm a part of, doesn't sit comfortably with me, I don't deny that. It affects you personally. I'm not alone in all of this and everything I said, in my resignation letter, I stand by.

“I am not alone in this, I'm just perhaps a more public person to say it. The amount of messages I've had in the last 24 hours, from Conservative activists, and voters, and members and even members of staff, who support my decision and feel the same way as I do.

“My politics haven't changed since I was elected. The party has shifted, there is a split. There's a portion of the conservative party who want to go further, to tackle Reform and I think the party are going in that direction, but where does that leave everyone else?

“That's where I think there's a growing amount of people in the conservative party feel increasingly uncomfortable with its direction of travel.”

Responding to the interview, a Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “Under Russell Findlay’s leadership, the Scottish Conservatives are working hard to rebuild trust with disillusioned voters and promote common sense conservative values.

“We will continue to stand up to Holyrood’s cosy left-wing consensus and oppose the SNP’s dangerous agenda.”