The Scottish Conservatives have chosen a new leader, Russell Findlay, but in doing so they have only highlighted their desperate plight. If Findlay does not pull them out of their Stuka-like dive, Reform could even overtake them in the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections and serve notice on their six Westminster seats.

Tellingly out of the 6,941 Scottish Conservative members — that’s little more than the capacity of 4th tier Forfar Athletic FC’s Station Park — only 60 per cent bothered to vote for a leader, with Findlay attracting 2,565 votes or 37 per cent of members, trailing the 2,786 (or 40 per cent) that were not inspired to vote for any of the three candidates put to them.

The level of apathy the leadership contest has revealed points to an organisation on its knees

Fortunately, by receiving more than double the votes of his opponents, Findlay easily won on the first count, beating Murdo Fraser, an MSP with some 23 years of name recognition who surprisingly managed only 1,187 votes, while Meghan Gallacher a relative newbie from the 2021 Holyrood intake but since elevated to deputy leader, attracting 403 supporters.

In total only 4,155 members voted, far fewer than the 6,498 in the last contested leadership of 2020 or the 5,676 when Ruth Davidson was elected in 2011. The level of apathy points to an organisation on its knees, which beyond some redoubts of Tory loyalty in Scottish rural areas in the Borders, Perthshire and North East, now has membership at historic low levels.

In the recent general election, relying upon the Nigel Farage air war of publicity but fielding a full slate of candidates, Reform UK polled higher than the Tories in all Glasgow seats and saved more deposits. A recent poll suggested Reform UK and Scots Tories as both likely to win sixteen seats in 2026 — that would be a fall from 31 for the Conservatives but a gain of 16 for Reform. In a recent council by-election in Armadale, West Lothian, Reform UK came third with an astonishing 18.9 per cent to the fifth placed Tories on only 8.2 per cent.

Especially worrying for the Scots Tories is how far they have dropped since Ruth Davidson was elected in 2011. At the time Annabel Goldie’s leadership had taken them to their lowest recorded electoral result of 12.4 per cent and the party needed a reboot. Davidson provided it, building for herself a reputation as a good performer on her feet and becoming the go-to politician when an anti-nationalist quote was needed.

Unfortunately, Davidson’s strategy of focusing on fighting the SNP became a rabbit hole from which they would struggle to find the exit. By the general election of this year the party polled only 12.7 per cent, its worst such result on record.

The leadership contest started unofficially after the election campaign and was marked by bitter blue-on-blue infighting composed of childish petulance, personal slights, unjustified arrogance, accusations of bullying and threats of legal action — and that was just from the elected politicians. Observers could be forgiven for wondering why such targeted aggression had never been shown against the SNP, Labour or Greens?

It all kicked off following the disastrous decision of the then Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross MP and MSP to replace (with himself) the incumbent MP David Duguid as a Conservative candidate whilst Duguid was recovering from a stroke in hospital. That was a sleekit and callous move that provoked enough outrage to force Ross to announce his resignation of leadership in mid-campaign — only to then be defeated by the SNP making him a future backbench MSP.

A professional football linesman to trade, Ross had always been a combative performer at First Minister’s Questions, raising his flag for fouls and offside regularly, but he had failed to build on the empty legacy of Ruth Davidson, who had turned the party into a form of unionist catenaccio to become the leading anti-SNP party.

That had deceived its supporters and many media commentators into believing it was in revival when its membership was actually declining. When the SNP pressed the self-destruct button by backing gender self-recognition the one trick the Tory pony had was as helpful as snowshoes in the Sahara.

The level of apathy the leadership contest has revealed points to an organisation on its knees. Beyond some redoubts of Tory loyalty in Scottish rural areas such as the Borders, Perthshire and the North East support and membership is ebbing away.

In the recent general election, using the Nigel Farage air war of publicity but fielding a full slate of candidates, Reform polled higher than the Tories in all Glasgow seats and saved more deposits. A recent poll is putting Reform UK and the Scots Tories as both likely to win sixteen seats in 2026 — that would be a fall from 31 for the Conservatives but a gain of 16 for Reform.

Fortunately Russell Findlay is not your stereotypical Scottish Tory, being neither a small businessman, lawyer or other professional. This is a saving grace as it gives him the opportunity to connect with the electorate by talking about bread and butter issues, such as crime, school indiscipline and the collapsing Scottish NHS. An investigative journalist who built a reputation as a crime reporter taking on organised gangs he has made a good fist of the law and order brief in the Holyrood parliament, but just what he really thinks and believes in has yet to be pinned down.

He has a nose for arguing well about what’s wrong, but what does he actually stand for? In a campaign piece for the Telegraph he wrote of expanding spending on Scotland’s NHS. At least he avoided talk of more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

His critics have categorised him as the establishment continuity candidate, which he failed to refute, yet Findlay may yet surprise people but to do so he will need to demonstrate he is his own man and break free from the remaining tentacles of the party establishment David Mundell and Ruth Davidson erected.

He needs to recognise the Holyrood bubble only contributes to the Tory disconnect and rebuild the party from the ground up. He needs to park the Tories constitutional posturing that had become a symbiotic relationship with the SNP, or they will go down with them. He needs to be magnanimous, heal hurt feelings and build a collegiate and consensual team — if his MSP colleagues will agree to work with him.

He certainly has the advantage of being media savvy, but now he has to show some substance that makes him attractive. It would only take for Reform UK in Scotland to discover a new, untarnished, no baggage, ordinary but effective communicator and the Tories could see their self-entitlement cruelly exposed for being a spent force, only useful in the days when the nationalists were a genuine threat.