Brian Whittle - the accidental politician on the Holyrood fast track

"I have been called the poor man's Scottish Seb Coe", Whittle jokes again in a reference to the legendary Olympic middle distance world record holder who served as a Tory MP in the 1990s before going on to lead the UK's 2012 Olympic organising committee and serve in the House of Lords.

Whittle, who once defeated fellow track athlete Coe when he finished fourth ahead of him in the 1990 Commonwealth Games 800 metres final in New Zealand, clearly views one of the UK's greatest Olympians as somewhat of a mentor.

"I know Seb really well and have known him for quite a long time" he says as he talks about how the two met most recently not long after he was elected as a South of Scotland MSP in last year's Holyrood elections.

Whittle is probably best remembered for the manner in which he helped Great Britain win the Gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, when he ran the third leg of the race with one shoe.

Now he talks about still being seen by many as an athlete rather than a politician.

"One of the things I thought might happen early on – with that media interest in the background I had before – was I might struggle in overcoming that perception that nobody can see past that you've been been an athlete."

He continues. "What you've got to remember is that was a long time ago. I've done other things since", Whittle says of his life after track athletics.

It's a career that included the collapse of a company, after a plan to bring Bill Clinton to Scotland fell through at the last moment. Clinton reportedly pulled out of the event in Aberdeen when he was not paid a fee upfront, leaving Whittle and his business partner, the ex-Scotland rugby star Derek Stark, facing huge financial losses.

"The Clintons agent put a gagging order on us and I was in a contract that it would have cost me far too much money to get out of so I just had to take the pain", he says.

What's striking about Whittle is how unlike a Tory he seems and how laid back and folksy he is compared to his more buttoned-up Westminster colleagues such as Theresa May.

Whittle says his past has opened doors for him in his role as Ruth Davidson's spokesperson for health, education, lifestyle and sport. But how much of a problem is it for him to be seen out campaigning for a Tory party that remains toxic in the eyes of many Scots?

"Some of the best banter I've had is when walking into let's call them non-traditional Tory areas," he says.

It's illustrated when he cracks a joke about canvassing for the Tories in the local council elections last week. "I was in an area which people live the most challenging lives and I was there with a jacket that says Scottish Conservative on the back. There was a big dog at a house I canvassed and the owner said 'I'll have to shoot the dog now now that it's talked to a Tory'."

What also marks him out is how direct he is when asked questions that could potentially land him in hot water, such as how he has found life in the Scottish Parliament.

"When I first came in here the absolute brutal honest truth is I thought it was penance for sin in a last life", he says.

Adding the caveat: "I would say for the majority of time, until recently, I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would."

The last two or three months have been less enjoyable, he says, explaining why: "It's the constitution. It's not what I'm here for. I'm not here to play political games. I'd be the first to admit it's not what I'm good at."

Expressing the frustration, and taking a sideswipe at the SNP, he says: "What that means is that all the time I've been here there's only one bit of policy passed and that was the budget and that can't be right."

Whittle, always a Tory voter, came into politics after coming into contact with Ruth Davidson during the 2014 anti-independence campaign.

"I'm absolutely opposed to Scottish independence. Think of my background, a Great Britain athlete", he says.

"We can talk about benefits of being in the UK and I'd really like us to talk about the benefits, but in terms of is it central to what I do? – absolutely not."

Whittle insists it's his health education spokesman role that keeps him going, with the championing of issues like access to PE in schools, that he claims Scotland has struggled with for decades.

"If we look at the rise in obesity and rise in mental health issues, you can trace it back to the mid-80s that's the point when PE in schools was cut" says Whittle.

Again, in a remark not usually associated with Tories, Whittle adds: "Sport's become this bastion of middle class and private schools."

But how would Whittle feel if the Team GB he was part of ceased to exist in its current form after the creation of an independent Scotland?

"With independence the argument is that there would be all this opportunity. No there won't, there would be less opportunity, much less opportunity.

"You look at the number of medals individuals have won in the last two or three Olympics.You look at the number of individual versus team medals we won and the number we actually have won is minimal."

He also suggests an independent Scotland would fail to qualify for some Olympic events, stating "Let's put it this way, the numbers are stacked against them. Sport in this country would sink massively", he adds.

On the face of it, it sounds like Whittle will be snapped up as an ideal poster boy by the No side in the event of a second referendum being called, an idea he pooh-poohs.

But for Whittle, who epitomises the notion of an accidental politician, having learned about his election as a list MSP in 2016 while in his bed, it may be that whatever his protestations he finds himself back in the thick of the action if a second referendum is called.