THE Scottish Tories are split over who to support in the Conservative leadership election as Andrew Bowie has publicly backed ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Bowie made a Twitter announcement on Monday declaring that he would support Sunak, saying that he had been “tested in a crisis” and he was passionate about the United Kingdom.
He wrote: “Tested in a Crisis. Delivered at the top of Government. Passionate about our United Kingdom. I'm backing Rishi Sunak for Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party and Prime Minister of our country. #Ready4Rishi”
🔵 Tested in a Crisis 🔵 Delivered at the top of Government 🔵 Passionate about our United Kingdom 🇬🇧 I'm backing Rishi Sunak for Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party and Prime Minister of our country.https://t.co/lq5dEpYgiN #Ready4Rishi pic.twitter.com/8CksLNJisk
— Andrew Bowie MP (@AndrewBowie_MP) July 11, 2022
Sunak has so far garnered the most endorsements among Tory leadership candidates but remains unpopular among those MPs still loyal to Boris Johnson.
And Bowie is the only Tory MP north of the Border to declare for the former chancellor with his Scottish colleagues either undecided or supporting other candidates.
Penny Mordaunt has been popular among the Scottish Tory MPs with John Lamont declaring for the trade minister, saying that she was an “effective communicator” and “strong on the Union”.
He said: “There’s a number of strong candidates but the person who continually has impressed me during my time as an MP and prior to that as an MSP is Penny Mordaunt and I believe she is a very effective communicator, very strong on the Union.”
Meanwhile, David Mundell was reportedly looking to support Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who has now publicly declared he will not be running.
Speaking on what he would be looking for in a candidate, he said: “What we need, I think, is somebody who could unify the party, unify the country, frankly just be a little bit duller than the current incumbent and just really focus on getting the job done.”
So far David Duguid, Alister Jack, and Douglas Ross are yet to publicly declare support for a candidate.
Ross has said that he will wait to see a full list of candidates before backing anyone.
He told STV: "I hope any candidate looking to replace the Prime Minister will look at how they can build some bridges that have been broken over recent months and years.”
