Relative newcomer to Holyrood beats Murdo Fraser and Meghan Gallacher after a contest marred by infighting
Russell Findlay was the clear favourite to win after a well-organised and extensive campaign. Photograph: Ken Jack/Getty Images
Russell Findlay, a former crime reporter, has been appointed as the next leader of the Scottish Conservatives after the most fractious period in the party’s history.
Findlay, a relative newcomer to the Scottish parliament, beat the party veteran Murdo Fraser and its former deputy leader Meghan Gallacher after a short contest triggered by the resignation of Douglas Ross. He won with 2,565 votes against 1,187 for Fraser and 403 for Gallacher. A total of 4,155 party members voted in the leadership ballot.
The clear favourite to win after a well-organised and extensive campaign, Findlay had been endorsed by Ruth Davidson, the Scottish party’s most successful recent leader, and a host of Holyrood backbenchers.
Ross stood down as leader after a rebellion by MSPs and activists over his decision to replace a widely liked candidate who was recovering from a medical operation, David Duguid, as the general election candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.
Following the backlash, Ross became the only Scottish Tory to lose a Westminster seat that the party was defending after a surge in support for Reform UK. Reform won 5,562 votes, well above Ross’s margin of defeat by 942 votes to the Scottish National party candidate.
The leadership contest was marred by infighting, accusations of dirty tricks and angry disputes involving Gallacher and John Lamont, the Tory MP who serves as shadow Scotland secretary.
Those rows included the resumption of an old feud between Davidson and Fraser over Fraser’s proposals for a breakaway Scottish party dating to 2011, when they both stood for the leadership. Davidson accused Fraser of plotting to resurrect that proposal by stealth if he had won the leadership, a charge he denied.
The Scottish Tories are the second-largest party at Holyrood behind the SNP, with 31 MSPs, but face being relegated to third at the next Scottish parliament election in 2026.
The latest Holyrood opinion polls put the Tories as low as 12%, behind Reform.
