Analysis

Analysis: Why any drama couldn't spice up the Scottish Tories leadership race

There has been plenty of drama in the Scottish Conservatives leadership battle - but the public appear to have been turned off by the drawn-out process.

Despite a flurry of drama surrounding the Scottish Tories leadership contest, the public has largely responded to the twists and turns with an almighty shrug.

That’s not to say that the leadership of the Scottish Conservatives is insignificant - it is clearly a crucial role in politics north of the Border.

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But whoever does, finally, replace Douglas Ross, will almost certainly have the unenviable task of steering the Tories from its cherished place as official opposition into third place behind Labour and the SNP.

The next leader will likely be in a painstaking position of being seen as having plenty of time to foster some sort of change without having any real chance of reviving hopes before the 2026 election.

The Scottish Tory contest has struggled to capture imaginations despite a fair bit of drama and controversy.

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Meghan Gallacher (Image: Lisa Ferguson/National World)Meghan Gallacher (Image: Lisa Ferguson/National World)
Meghan Gallacher (Image: Lisa Ferguson/National World)

First we had the quite incredible allegations that Mr Ross and Russell Findlay, still regarded as the frontrunner for the job, had plotted last year to have Mr Findlay installed as the Tory leader - leading to claims the current Tory justice spokesperson is the ‘establishment candidate’. 

But Mr Findlay hasn’t helped himself for squirming and wriggling when asked about his drug history. Nobody particularly cares what drugs politicians have taken in their younger days, but Mr Findlay’s refusal to say so, mixed with his hard stance on using criminal justice to tackle the drug deaths crisis and his boasting of lads holidays in the 90s - has created of cocktail of awkwardness.

The latest chapter is the most eyebrow-raising yet. Meghan Gallacher has had very little attention, probably quite unfairly, compared to her two rivals. She quit as Mr Ross’s deputy amid the plot allegations and last week endured a toe-curling segment of the STV leaders debate when she didn’t have a good reason why she had been so out of the loop inside the Scottish Tories, during sustained questioning from Colin Mackay.

Colin Mackay with Murdo Fraser, Meghan Gallacher and Russell Findlay at the STV Scottish Tories leadership debateColin Mackay with Murdo Fraser, Meghan Gallacher and Russell Findlay at the STV Scottish Tories leadership debate
Colin Mackay with Murdo Fraser, Meghan Gallacher and Russell Findlay at the STV Scottish Tories leadership debate | STV

In reality, many in the Holyrood bubble have expected her to drop out, but that has not transpired. She only has to win over the party members. She has now levelled a quite shocking allegation against senior Tory MP, John Lamont, she claims threatened her into calling it a day.

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Ms Gallacher claims she feared she would be de-selected ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election after the pressure from Mr Lamont - who is backing Mr Findlay.

Mr Lamont completely refutes the allegations, branding them “defamatory and false” but it is unclear where it leaves Ms Gallacher, who was only elected to Holyrood for the first time in 2021. 

The in-fighting, regardless of how much truth is in the reports, will have helped Ms Gallacher climb back into the race.

What the squabbling and blue-on-blue attacks the Tories were desperate to avoid will have done, is turn the public off to the very real and important contest taking place.

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During the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a pretty dejected Mr Ross admitted he hadn’t been great at managing his group of MSPs and became paranoid about being stabbed in the back.

Whoever takes his place has an almighty headache in bringing the party’s MSPs back together and almost immediately put them on a war footing for the election of their lives. To many looking into the bubble, that will be a poisoned chalice.

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