A SENIOR Tory MSP has described the Scottish Conservatives’ General Election campaign as “shambolic” just days before the General Election.
According to a report in The Times, the party has descended into civil wars with senior figures calling for a clear-out at the top of the party.
In a scathing attack on the party, one source told the newspaper the campaign was “the most inept” in the party’s history.
Douglas Ross (above) announced he would stand down as the party’s leader following the election and that he would stand down as an MP should he win the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat at Westminster.
However, Ross is only standing after former Scotland Office minister David Duguid was blocked from doing so to make way for the Scottish Tory leader.
Duguid had expected to stand in the seat despite health issues and said he had the support of local members.
He insisted he was fit enough to contest the seat and said he was left “very saddened” by the decision of the party’s management board - which he said had taken the decision without visiting him “or receiving any professional medical prognosis”.
One MSP told The Times: “This has been the most inept, shambolic Scottish Tory campaign in history, marked by disastrous errors from the top.
“Hard-working candidates across Scotland have been badly let down. No one involved in the leadership of the campaign should ever be allowed near one again.
“The entire party establishment needs to be cleared out after polling day and some grown-ups put in charge.”
Every Tory-held seat in Scotland is expected to be close-run, although a Sunday Times poll over the weekend suggested the party may hold on to all six of the seats they currently have.
Another source said: “The main focus for now is getting as many candidates over the line as we can.
“We are fighting for every vote and there will be plenty of time after the election to digest and unpick where responsibility lies for whatever the outcome is this Thursday.
“It is absolutely essential that whatever happens next is not rushed, is forensic and accepts that more of the same simply won’t cut it. Some heads may rightly roll.”
Two other sources also said that a number of parliamentarians and activists held similar views.
However, other party members have expressed frustration at the latest intervention, saying that it “could and should have waited until Thursday”.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives told The National: "We are fully focused on beating the SNP.
"In key seats across Scotland it's only us who can beat the SNP and switch the focus away from their independence obsession and on to the issues that really matter to people."
