Scottish Tory leadership race turns nasty amid claims of "petty attacks" and "secret recordings"

The Scottish Tory leadership contest has turned ugly as underdog Michelle Ballantyne hit out at "petty attacks" and efforts to "undermine my campaign" by opponents.

By Scott Macnab Thursday, 30th January 2020, 12:03 pm

The South of Scotland MSP is standing against Eastwood MSP Jackson Carlaw, the favourite to win, who suggested his opponent lacked the ideas or support to win in an interview today.

But Ms Ballantyne responded with a stinging attack, where she claimed the Tories in Scotland went "backwards" in the recent election in which Mr Carlaw led the campaign.

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“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 today.

The Scottish Tory leadership contest has turned ugly as underdog Michelle Ballantyne hit out at "petty attacks" and efforts to "undermine my campaign" by opponents.

The MSP was left on the back foot after comments emerged from a meeting in Edinburgh recently where 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 added.

“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."

Mr Carlaw had claimed that Ms Ballantyne was the only member of the Tories' Shadow Cabinet at Holyrood never to submit a "single policy proposal", in an interview with the Telegraph today.

He also dismissed criticism of stewardship of his election strategy north of the border as "nonsense."

"I'm always impressed by people who find the courage of their convictions after the event but have little to say about it beforehand," he told the paper.

Ms Ballantyne's call for a Unionist pact in next year's election to oust the SNP was also rejected by Mr Carlaw..

"We have frontline spokesman in the Labour Party actively talking about future engagement with the SNP," he added.