DAVID Cameron's election campaign has been "poisonous" for the Scottish Conservatives, a former party press chief has warned.
Andy Maciver, who worked for former Scots Tory leaders David McLetchie and Annabel Goldie, said the Prime Minister's repeated warnings about the prospect of a Labour government propped up by the SNP "might very well" win him the keys to 10 Downing Street.
But he warned the message undermined his party's efforts counter long-running claims it is anti-Scottish.
Mr McIver said senior Scottish Tories were "livid" at Mr Cameron's approach.
"There is mouth-foaming anger amongst those to whom I have spoken," he wrote in a blog for Conservative Home, an influential online forum for activists.
"If the SNP could create the Tory campaign, according to my erstwhile colleagues, they would have created the one we have seen for the last week.
"It has legitimised the left-wing paranoia which is feeding the army of monkeys required by the SNP's organ grinders."
Mr Cameron's campaign has relied on increasingly stark warnings about the prospect of the SNP wielding influence after May 7.
Posters have depicted Alex Salmond first with Ed Miliband in his pocket and more recently as a pickpocket.
On Sunday, Home Secretary Theresa May questioned the legitimacy of a Labour-SNP alliance and claimed it would amount to the biggest constitutional crisis since the abdication of 1936.
Meanwhile Mr Cameron has emphasised the need for English votes for English laws to counter the growing power of Holyrood and has set out a "Carlisle Principle" to ensure decisions at Holyrood did not impact adversely on the rest of the UK.
Mr Maciver who advocates a federal UK, said the Scots Tories were "increasingly being hindered by their association with London".
He wrote: "Without any personal offence intended to any individuals, it is clear to me that Downing Street has absolutely no strategy whatsoever when it comes to Scotland.
He said the Conservatives argued the UK was a "family" of nations to win last year's referendum but were now raising fears of Scottish influence.
He said the campaign undermined Scots Tory efforts to "fight back against 30 years of SNP assertion that the evil Tories are anti-Scottish."
He wrote: "These Scottish Tories wanted to see their vibrant, exciting leader (Ruth Davidson) talking up the government's job creation miracle, tax cuts and public service reform.
"Instead, they woke up to find that, while they were sleeping, the Saltire they've been waving has been replaced by the St. George's cross."
He added: "The last week might very well help David Cameron back into Downing Street by pulling England towards the Tories and pushing even more of Scotland into the welcoming arms of the SNP, both at the expense of Labour.
"However, it has been poisonous for the Union, and poisonous for the Scottish Conservative Party."
A number of senior Conservatives have warned Mr Cameron's strategy will strengthen the SNP and put the Union under strain.
In a speech last night, Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, accused the Conservatives of turning the election into a battle between England and Scotland, to the Nationalists' advantage.
A Scots Tory source said: "This is a mis-timed blog on the day we rose five points in the polls."
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