Choosing a replacement for Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross: At least there is a vote this time

Former crime journalist Russell Findlay, Murdo Fraser - the party's longest-serving MSP - and current deputy leader Meghan Gallacher are battling it out for the job - but the real contest is expected to be Findlay  v Fraser.

One party insider says:  "People think Meghan has got potential for the future, but this isn't her time."

Douglas Ross. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images | Getty Images

Three other potential candidates - Brian Whittle, Liam Kerr, and Jamie Greene - dropped out before the deadline for nominations last week and all endorsed Mr Fraser. But Mr Findlay has been seen for some time as the party establishment's preferred choice. 

The party insider says:  "Russell is the favourite, but Murdo has a lot of support as well, with lots of other MSPs backing him including the former contenders. It could be quite close." The election is by party members, who will be asked to rank the three candidates by marking their ballot paper 1, 2, 3.   

And the election is in stark contrast with the last change of leader in 2020, when Jackson Carlaw was toppled and replaced by a reluctant Douglas Ross without any contest and members got no say at all.

It was during the pandemic and 10 months before the 2021 Holyrood elections. Senior Tory figures thought Mr Carlaw was being too soft on the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon over her handling of Covid.

A party source recalls: “It was decided he was going to go and he was told. But he's very loyal to the party so he didn't react against it.

“Douglas Ross did not want to be leader. But Mark McInnes [director of the Scottish Conservative Party] and Ruth Davidson [former Scottish Tory leader] went to him and said 'Jackson is leaving, you're going to become the new leader1. He said he didn't want to do it, but they just worked on him and persuaded him.”

Under Mr Ross’s leadership at the 2021 election the party retained the 31 seats it had won in 2016 by Ms Davidson. And even at this year’s Westminster election, the party held five out of its six Westminster seats despite recording the worst vote share ever.

But the Tory group at the Scottish Parliament was not a happy ship with Mr Ross at the helm. “Most MSPs don't have a good word to say about him because he didn't communicate with them,” says the source. “There was quite a bad atmosphere.”

Mr Ross caused much upset by his decision to oust sick MP David Duguid and take over as candidate in his Westminster seat in a failed attempt to return to the Commons. That led to his announcement at the height of the election campaign that he would quit as leader once it was over.

And it is now claimed he plotted to resign a year earlier by replacing the candidate in a different Westminster seat and install Mr Findlay as his successor. “Douglas Ross always preferred Westminster to Holyrood,” says the source. “So it was a big mistake by the party to assume he would become leader and decide he liked Holyrood more.” At least there is a vote this time. Ballots will be sent to party members on September 4, and the winner announced on September 27.