No time to waste: Why new Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay needs to act fast
“Under my leadership the Scottish Conservatives are going to change,” Russell Findlay told members after he was elected the new party leader on Friday morning. That change needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Mr Findlay, who takes over from Douglas Ross, inherits a challenging situation, to say the least. The next Holyrood election is just 19 months away. There is little time to waste.
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The Tory vote share in Scotland almost halved at the general election, with just 12.7 per cent backing the party. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK now poses a very real threat. Meanwhile, the leadership contest exposed deep internal divisions, with damaging blue-on-blue attacks in the media.
Mr Findlay will address the Tory MSP group in Holyrood on Tuesday. I asked him what his message of unity will be. “We have had a protracted process,” he said. “We’ve had a healthy engagement with our members. We’ve all had an opportunity and the ability to talk about what what we’d like to do.
“I think, starting on Tuesday, hopefully the MSP group can pull together behind this new leadership and realise that what we have in common is much greater. Our focus should be on our real opponents out there.”
Earlier, he was asked about accusations he was the establishment candidate, which dogged him throughout the contest.
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Hide Ad“I’m looking forward to meeting this establishment,” Mr Findlay replied, to laughter from some of the audience at a party event in central Edinburgh. He said unity was “fundamental”, and he was “acutely conscious” of Reform’s vote share at the general election.
In a short speech after his victory was announced, the new leader directly addressed those people in Scotland who are “scunnered by the divisive policies and fringe obsessions of the Scottish Parliament” and feel “let down and failed” by politicians.


“If you feel that way, I get it,” he said. “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. We will work hard to earn your trust by doing things differently.
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Hide Ad“We will be a voice for decent, mainstream Scotland and for the values of hard work, self-reliance and fairness for taxpayers. We'll spend all our time and energy on your concerns, your hopes and your needs.
“We know you don't expect miracles from politicians. We know you just want some common sense, for a change. And we are determined to deliver it.”
Mr Findlay was previously an investigative journalist and came to politics relatively late. It is not yet clear what type of party leader he will be, or indeed what sort of Conservatism he stands for.
But he has the support of the membership, small though it may be. He secured 2,565 votes, with his main rival, Murdo Fraser, trailing behind on 1,187. Meghan Gallacher, the third candidate, and at 32 the youngest member of the Tory group in Holyrood, got 403 votes.
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Hide AdThe party had just 6,941 members eligible to vote - a tiny number to decide who leads Holyrood’s main opposition - and turnout was 60 per cent. These figures should worry the new leadership team.
Mr Fraser said he was not surprised by the result. “It was always clear to me from the outset that Russell was the favourite,” he told journalists afterwards. “He had major establishment backing perhaps as long as a year ago, so I’m not surprised that he had a comfortable victory.”
However, he insisted the party now needs to pull together. “We need to put behind the events of the last few weeks, otherwise it will be very difficult for us to move forward if we are continuing to fight old battles,” he said.
There is real anger within the party at how the leadership contest played out, with allegations some of those around Mr Findlay briefed against opponents in the media.
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Hide AdMr Ross also provoked the ire of his colleagues when he was asked by ITV Border what one piece of advice he would give his successor.
“Trust your advisers,” he said. “You need a small team of people close to you, because you could go along the corridor and listen to every MSP in our group and have 31 different opinions. So sometimes you’ve just got to have a smaller group that are advising in your best interests and in the party’s interests. And I think some of the people who have disparaged that type of leadership have not experienced what it’s like to be leader and to take these decisions.”
Mr Ross’s reliance on a small group of advisers, and his perceived reluctance to engage with his MSP group, were the source of deep unhappiness internally. His comments, then, fanned the flames. One MSP described it as a “typically ungracious” parting shot.
It remains to be seen whether Mr Findlay can heal the wounds of recent weeks and craft a viable electoral strategy going forward. But he will be acutely aware that time is of the essence, and there is a mountain to climb.
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Hide AdBy the way, given it is now something of a tradition for Tory leaders, I also asked Mr Findlay about the naughtiest thing he has ever done. Theresa May famously ran through a field of wheat. What about Mr Findlay? “I probably best not answer that,” the former crime reporter said.
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