THE conclusion of a political leadership contest usually represents a fresh start for a party, a chance to put to bed whatever led them to press the reset button and wipe the slate clean.
But as Russell Findlay concluded his short winner’s speech at the flash Radisson Blu hotel on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile as the Scottish Tory contest came to a close, there was an eerie silence that fell across the room as he asked for questions from journalists.
No hands went up, everyone looked around at each other like we were at school, before the BBC eventually broke the ice and laid out just how steep the uphill climb was going to be for Findlay. It’s what we were all thinking.
First, there was a huge amount of infighting during the contest. Meghan Gallacher, one of Findlay’s rivals, quit as deputy leader of the party because of “concerning allegations” that now former leader Douglas Ross had previously expressed a preference for Findlay to succeed him.
The very same day four other candidates – we started out with six – put their names to a joint statement questioning the “transparency and fairness” of the contest.
Gallacher has also made an official complaint to the party about the conduct of shadow Scottish secretary John Lamont. He’s threatened legal action accusing Gallacher of claiming that he phoned members to tell them she was due to pull out of the contest.
Then there’s the toxic legacy left by Ross who fired a brutal parting shot of “you could listen to every MSP in our group and have 31 different opinions” this week, suggesting he didn’t trust them to advise him.
Findlay has also been branded the “establishment candidate” and while he may have joked about looking forward to meeting said establishment when he spoke to the media, he’s likely going to need to work a lot harder to shake off that tag.
And while he can briefly wipe his brow after winning this contest, there is another Tory leadership contest still going on down south with anti-immigration hardliner Robert Jenrick – who is renowned for arguing the botched Rwanda scheme did not go far enough – the favourite to win.
You could already see this was going to potentially cause Findlay a headache when he was asked whether he wanted to take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights, as Jenrick wants. Findlay said he didn’t want that to happen “at this stage” but “nothing is off the table”. The sticky equation of being a branch office goes on.
And if you thought we were done, absolutely not. By far the biggest issue Findlay is going to face is the rise of Reform, whose success at the General Election ultimately led to former leader Ross losing his seat as an MP as voters were split. Nigel Farage has set out their intention to run for Holyrood seats, and they’re expected to succeed. It’s something top pollster John Curtice has said could cause chaos in the chamber.
Reform overtook the Scottish Tories in every Glasgow seat at the election as their vote share slumped to 13% overall.
Findlay might have background as an investigative journalist, but based on that awkward silence from reporters up and down the country, you get the sense this is all going to be too much for him to get his teeth into.
In the run-up to the Holyrood election in 2026, it feels as though the Scottish Tories are about to embark on a desperate search for relevance. Findlay has vowed he’s not like the rest of them, promising he’s going to bring back common sense and decency, but there is surely too much mess for him to clean up in 20 months. We haven’t even mentioned that he once backed Liz Truss to be prime minister.
They are a party scrapping for identity, purpose and direction, and when you don’t have those core, foundational things driving you on even in rough times, then you are fighting a losing battle.
It would simply be remiss of me not to quite an ancient philosopher when speaking about the Tories, wouldn’t it? As Seneca said: “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”
