THE fight to replace Annabel Goldie as the leader of the Tory Party in Scotland has become a genuine contest after deputy leader Murdo Fraser became the second candidate to say he wanted the job.
Mr Fraser said yesterday he was looking forward to a debate about the future direction of the party after being encouraged by parliamentary colleagues, senior councillors and party activists to stand.
He is the second candidate to put his name forward after West of Scotland MSP Jackson Carlaw announced he would stand earlier this month.
Mr Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, admitted the Tories were “still a long way from being a real force in Scottish politics”.
“In order to become one we require renewal and change,” he said.
Mr Fraser will reveal his plans to re-invigorate the party at a formal campaign launch on September 5.
It is widely expected that Glasgow MSP Ruth Davidson, only elected in the May poll, will become the third challenger.
She said yesterday: “I have been encouraged by a number of party members to stand. I think the party needs the broadest possible debate about our future and I look forward to seeing as many candidates as possible enter that debate.”
The Conservatives have a timetable in place for replacing Ms Goldie, who announced her decision to quit after the party lost two seats in May’s Holyrood election.
At the time, she said: “I want my successor to have the maximum time for him or her to shape the party and its policies, and to lead the opposition at Holyrood.”
The new leader will be announced on November 4.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article