SCOTTISH Tory activists have launched a campaign to stop Boris Johnson and Brexit breaking up their party and undermining the Union.
In a sign of the problems in Tory ranks, Scottish Conservatives Together has been formed in a bid to avoid a breakaway party north of the border.
The new group is opposed to the idea floated by MSPs Murdo Fraser and Adam Tomkins of a more autonomous Scottish centre-right party, wholly separate from the UK Tories.
Ms Davidson became leader in 2011 on a promise to block the idea, after Mr Fraser said the Scottish Tories should be dissolved and replaced with a new party without the baggage.
After Ms Davidson’s win, the proposal was dropped, but since her resignation last month it has been revived by Mr Tomkins and others.
In 2011, a string of electoral failures was the spur for Mr Fraser’s idea.
Now it is the Prime Minister and Brexit, both of which are hugely unpopular in Scotland.
On Sunday, after Amber Rudd quit the cabinet over the government’s inaction on Brexit and the sacking of 21 Tory MPs, Mr Fraser tweeted: “The Conservative Party is not, and should not be, a narrow sect. It has always been a broad church incorporating a range of views - on economic, social & constitutional issues. If we lose that, we risk losing the country.”
The ‘Tory Together’ group claims to have attracted the support of more than 100 people, including MSPs and MPs.
Aberdeen South MP Ross Thomson endorsed the outfit on Twitter.
The group has been set up by East Lothian Councillor Lachlan Bruce, 26, who until July was a was a campaign manager for the party in Edinburgh.
He said that in the coming contest to find Ms Davidson’s successor, the group would urge all candidates to back staying “as one united party”.
He said: “It’s not personal. It’s not about Murdo. It’s more about what we believe - that the party should stay united.
“It’s about us putting forward our stall and saying we think that the best for the party and the Union going forward is for us to stay as one united party across the UK.”
He said he didn’t accept the argument that a separate Scottish party would not be “tarred” by events at Westminster, because voters would still see it as the Tories, especially if its MPs took the Tory whip at Westminster.
He said: “What’s going on down south is not the greatest. We’d much rather get a deal together. But we’ve got to stay as one party.
“Whatever may come it’s the best way to fight Indyref2 and for the Union.
“If we went down this [other] line, I already know what the SNP’s line would be - if independence is good enough for the Tories, why is it not good enough for Scotland?”
Although the group‘s website boasts an endorsement from Ms Davidson, Cllr Bruce admitted it might be “somebody having a bit of a laugh” by using her name,
Acting Tory leader Jackson Carlaw is also opposed to a breakaway party.
He said on Sunday: “The Conservative Party works best when it’s united.”
Mr Bruce added: "The imminent Scottish Conservative leadership contest must elect an MSP who will keep our party together. Anything else would hand Nicola Sturgeon independence on a plate.
"Our members want a leader who will fight separation and division, not create it."
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