THE interim leader of the Scottish Conservatives has enlisted a top public relations firm to boost his bid to land the job on a permanent basis.

Jackson Carlaw, who has been leading the party since Ruth Davidson resigned last year, confirmed he is standing shortly after nominations for the party leadership opened yesterday.

He has appointed Halogen Communications to provide PR support during his campaign.

It came after he set out his platform in a Sunday newspaper article, where he warned some “well established” party policies may have to be ditched as the Tories seek to win back the centre ground.

Mr Carlaw, who was Ms Davidson’s deputy, is seen as the overwhelming favourite to win the party leadership.

However, Michelle Ballantyne, the Tories’ social security spokeswoman at Holyrood, is also expected to stand.

Mr Carlaw already has the backing of Holyrood frontbenchers Liam Kerr and Rachael Hamilton, who are jointly chairing his leadership campaign.

He tweeted: “As nominations open for leader of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party this morning, I can confirm I’ll be standing.

“We must take the fight to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, broadening our platform and diversifying our party. I’m ready for the fight.”

The SNP immediately highlighted controversial remarks made by Mr Carlaw in the past, including an incident in 2005 when he was forced to apologise for making racist jokes.

SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth said: “The Scottish Tories’ would be-leader is happy to see the party pulled even further to the right – it’s time for Scotland to choose a different path and take our future into our own hands with independence.”

The leadership contest comes after Ms Davidson, who transformed the Scottish Tories to make the party the main opposition to the SNP in Scotland, stepped down in August.

She cited both her “conflict” over Brexit and the birth of her son Finn as reasons for her decision.

The hunt for her successor was put on hold after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a snap general election.

The Tories lost seven of the 13 seats they had held in Scotland, with the campaign focused heavily on opposition to Nicola Sturgeon’s plans to hold a second independence referendum.

Writing in the Sunday Times newspaper, Mr Carlaw said next year’s Holyrood elections must be “about far more than our constitutional settlement”.

He called on Tories to raise their game, adding: “We need to be bold and fearlessly champion solutions to the challenges of the 2020s that Scotland will face - to create opportunity in housing and education, secure a sustainable future for our publicly-funded NHS, deliver - not just promise - on the environment and transform our post-Brexit economy.

“And to succeed, Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood need to look more like the Scotland we seek to represent, and to embrace procedures that deliver this.

“In short, we need to ensure that while we have many more new MSPs joining our team in 2021, all are typical of the new generation of Conservatives representing their communities at all levels, diverse in every sense, talented, experienced, of all ages and backgrounds.”

He said the policies of the Scottish Tories “must be rooted in the ‘blue-collar Conservatism’ of the centre ground”.

He added: “That will inevitably mean having the courage to leave some of our previous positions, some even well established, behind.”

Nominations close at noon on Friday January 17, with those looking to be the next leader needing to secure the support of at least 100 party members.

Halogen Communications is based in Edinburgh but also has an office in Washington DC. Its clients include household names such as Morrisons, Airbnb and tobacco giant Philip Morris, while its founding partners are former Tory MP and Scotland Office minister Raymond Robertson and John Crawford, who was previously chief of staff for the Scottish Tories.

Ms Ballantyne, who caused controversy in 2018 after saying poor people on benefits cannot have as many children as they like, previously confirmed she will run if she secures enough nominations.

She told the Scottish Daily Mail she did not believe “coronations” are the right approach. Other MSPs who were expected to stand, such as former leadership hopeful Murdo Fraser, have decided not to put themselves forward.