Tory leadership race gets nasty as rivals turn on each other
The Scottish Tory leadership has turned ugly as the two candidates to replace Ruth Davidson went on the offensive amid claims of “petty attacks”, “secret recordings” and criticism of party activists.
Frontrunner Jackson Carlaw has denied he is rattled by suggestions that underdog Michelle Ballantyne is enjoying a surge in support and hit back at her criticism of the recent general election campaign north of the Border.
Ms Ballantyne had earlier launched a stinging attack on the interim leader, claiming the Tories in Scotland went “backwards” in the election in which Mr Carlaw led the campaign.
“It’s disappointing that my critique of the unsuccessful election strategy has resulted in nervous opponents trying to undermine my campaign through secret recordings, leaks to the press and tall tales from the shadow cabinet room,” Ms Ballantyne said in a statement yesterday.
The MSP has been irked after comments she made from a hustings in Edinburgh recently went public in which she appeared to claim that climate change could benefit Scotland.
“Petty attacks aside, this campaign has been a wonderful opportunity to engage with our members and supporters, and I look forward to meeting even more of them in the coming days and weeks,” Ms Ballantyne said.
“Leadership often involves challenging conversations and difficult decisions. It’s about owning your mistakes and learning from them. Our party made historic gains in England and Wales in the general election in December, but we went backwards in Scotland with the loss of seven talented and hardworking MPS.
“The result wasn’t down to our candidates or our activists; it was down to an uninspiring campaign with too much focus on the constitution – a view shared by countless party members I have spoken to in recent weeks.”
But Mr Carlaw yesterday denied he was nervous about the prospect of his rival gaining support. He said: “I am absolutely confident from all the feedback that I’ve had from the party, but I am concerned about a number of headlines and interviews in which this criticism of the campaign that the PM supported that we all fought that saw us recover that position in a very difficult position for us in Scotland.”
He added: “We fought a campaign that saw us recover from opinion polls that we were below 20 per cent to 25 per cent, retained our position as the principle challengers to the SNP in Scotland and defied the predictions.”