Scottish Tory leadership candidate pleads with rivals to drop out of race
A frontrunner in the Scottish Tory leadership contest has urged the other candidates to stand aside so he can be crowned the victor.
Murdo Fraser used his campaign launch in Perth on Thursday, to announce that Liam Kerr and Jamie Greene, who were prospective candidates, had dropped their leadership bids and endorsed him instead.
Then, warning that the party’s “survival” was at stake, he argued that his remaining two opponents, Russell Findlay and Meghan Gallacher, should follow suit for the sake of party unity, following weeks of damaging infighting.
Mr Fraser said they should “bring this sorry chapter to a close” rather than having the candidates “spend another five weeks shouting at each other”.
Asked directly if he was urging the pair to drop out to allow a coronation to take place, he said: “Yes.”
Mr Findlay and Ms Gallacher, however, rejected his call.
Mr Findlay, who is the bookmakers’ favourite in the contest, said members deserved a “fair and positive contest” rather than have the party leader decided by “any small group of people at Holyrood”.
The Scottish Conservatives later confirmed that the trio had secured the required 100 nominations they needed from members to enter the race.
‘We need to be a serious force again’
The contest will be formed of eight hustings across the country and an STV debate on September 2. Members will rank them in order of preference on their ballot papers and the victor will be announced on September 27.
It had been expected that at least one of Mr Kerr and Mr Greene would also stand but instead they made a surprise appearance at Mr Fraser’s launch.
They vehemently denied claims they had stood as “paper candidates” to give their endorsement extra weight. Brian Whittle, another potential candidate, also stood aside and backed Mr Fraser earlier this week.
Instead they said they had decided to put the party above personal ambition because they considered Mr Fraser to be the only candidate who could unite it and deliver “real change”. The deal with him was only reached in the previous 24 hours, they said.
Welcoming the endorsement of two more of his opponents, and other MSPs, Mr Fraser said: “It’s a good start. But there is space in this team for more. For everyone with the talent we need to be a serious force again.
“We as a party can spend another five weeks shouting at each other. We can spend the next five weeks under a cloud of suspicion and impropriety. Or we can end it. We can end it now and, as a team of MSPs working on behalf of our members, take back control of our party.”
He added: “And so today I say to both Meghan Gallacher and Russell Findlay, let’s bring this sorry chapter to a close. Come and join this team. Show our members and the country that we understand their frustration. That we have responded to their deep concerns.”
Party in chaos
Mr Fraser had earlier noted that the party had suffered an “immensely difficult” few weeks, with its vote share in the general election halving to only 12.7 per cent.
In addition, The Telegraph last week disclosed claims that in July 2023, Douglas Ross, the outgoing party leader, tried to persuade Kathleen Robertson to let him take her place as the party’s general election candidate for Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey.
It was alleged that he told Ms Robertson, the leader of Moray Council, that he would quit immediately as party leader and he wanted Mr Findlay to replace him. However, she was said to have rejected his proposal.
Ms Robertson told The Telegraph the account of the meeting was accurate, but Mr Ross insisted he had only invited her to his home to discuss whether she wanted to remain the candidate.
But Mr Fraser, Mr Greene, Mr Kerr and Mr Whittle issued a joint statement calling for the contest to be suspended while the allegations were investigated. Ms Gallacher resigned as deputy leader over her concerns.
Mr Fraser told supporters at this launch event the leadership contest had been “fractious”, with “persistent anonymous briefings against candidates” and “concerning claims being raised about the conduct of the Scottish leader”.
“Our activists are angry. Our members are angry. Our MSPs are angry. And I am angry. When we should be turning our fire on our political opponents, the SNP and Labour, we are turning it on each other,” he said.
“The last few weeks have proven that real change is an absolute necessity. It is a matter of survival for our party. For too long we have had too much power concentrated in too few hands, and we have all seen the effects of that. That has to change now.”
The shadow business secretary said it was “deeply dispiriting” for activists to knock doors and deliver leaflets “only to have the ground cut from under them because of the behaviour of a few at the top of the party who frankly should know better.”
Mr Findlay is viewed as the preferred candidate of the party establishment. Although Mr Fraser promised not to criticise his opponents, he appeared to target Mr Findlay by arguing that “continuity won’t cut it”.
He also dismissed criticism of his plan for a commission to examine loosening ties between the UK and Scottish parties, saying that any recommendation would have to be approved by two-thirds of members to be implemented.
‘I’ve always been opposed to a coronation’
It is the second time that Mr Fraser, who is the Scottish Tories’ longest-serving MSP, has stood for the leadership. He lost out to Ruth Davidson in 2011 after proposing setting up a new Right-wing party.
He has recently argued the Tories should continue fighting Westminster elections but the commission could examine a new party for Holyrood contests.
Mr Greene, a west Scotland MSP, told the event that he and Mr Fraser “sit on monumentally different ends of the Conservative spectrum”. But he said that he had withdrawn from the race as only Mr Fraser had the experience, appeal and “gumption” to rebuild the party.
Mr Kerr, the shadow education secretary, said he had racked up 120 nominations but had decided to back Mr Fraser instead as he was “the one remaining candidate” who could deliver party unity.
Mr Findlay, who launched his campaign earlier this week, said: “I’ve always been opposed to a coronation, of myself or anyone else. I’m standing to give our members the fair and positive contest they deserve because our party must change.
He added: “Our members should decide the next leader. Not any small group of people at Holyrood.”
Ms Gallacher said: “It won’t come as any shock that I intend to stand and win by restoring trust, giving members a voice, and focusing on bringing in the next generation of Scottish Conservatives.
“This is why we need a contest. We must reset, rebuild and restore the party from the grassroots to the top. That’s exactly what I’m focused on achieving.”