Scottish Tory leader plotted to quit a year ago and install close ally as successor

Douglas Ross reportedly hatched his plan to resign as Scottish Tory leader over a year ago, with party insiders suggesting that the current ‘bookies’ favourite to succeed the disgruntled leader was picked for the position. 
 
The newspaper was informed that, during the meeting that took place in July 2023 at his house, Mr Ross told Kathleen Robertson that he was interested in putting her forward to be the party’s general election candidate in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey. 
 
They claimed that he said to Ms Robertson, the leader of Moray council, that he will step down as the party leader within 24 hours if he could be given a chance to be the candidate since “his passion lies in Westminster not in Holyrood. ” 

Assuming she was willing to step down, Mr Ross is reported to have offered her assurances that she would be adopted as the Tory candidate in the equivalent Holyrood constituency in time for the 2026 Scottish Parliament poll. 
 
whose reference to Ms Robertson the witness stated, he said ‘who will succeed him as leader’ H gangs is alleged to have replied saying ‘Russell Findlay’ the main policy and who is considered to be the preferred candidate of the party apparatchiks in the current leadership struggle. 
 
Following a discussion of the issue over the weekend in the wake of the event, Tory sources revealed that she denied Mr Ross’s demand to quit the candidate position, which he was evidently unhappy about. 
 
We spoke to Ms Robertson and she agreed with Telegraph’s account of her discussion with Mr Ross last year. 
 
In a statement, Mr Ross said he requested such a meeting primarily to ensure she was serious about contesting for the seat for the local members. 
 
While he did not rule out supporting Mr Findlay in the talks he promised to ‘sit on the fence’ over the summer leadership vote and not speak about the candidates. 
 
Friend of Mr Findlay said he was not aware of the meeting saying there is no proof of an establishment plot to make him the leader. 
 
They noted that it was party members not Mr Ross who would elect his successor and they rubbished it as smear. 
 
It will be recalled that six people’s names have been mentioned concerning the upcoming position and Mr Findlay is one of them and he is expected to officially declare his intention on Monday. 
 
But, senior Tories pointed out that the exchange further supported what they threatened were efforts by the party leadership to fix it for Mr Findlay, a political mate of Mr Ross, to take over. 
 
Several people suggested that the conversation indicated that Mr Ross should resign from the leadership of the party immediately and not wait until the last phase of selecting the successor in the end of September. 
 
They told the talks also cast doubt on the party’s decision, made only in the last two months, to deselect David Duguid and give the Tory nomination to Mr Ross in the neighbouring Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency. 
 
Mr Ross won Moray as an MP in the 2017 general elections and then got into the Holyrood as a Highlands regional MSP four years later when he was elected as the party leader. 
 
While he remained a member of both parliaments he promised that he would not seek re-election in this year’s general election so that he could concentrate on his attempt to steer the Tories into office in Holyrood. 
 
Moray in Westminster was eliminated at the election after boundaries change; 70 per cent of the territory of the previous Moray was absorbed by the Moray West, Nairn, Strathspey new region. 
 
Ms Robertson was called as the Tory candidate for the new constituency in April last year but the party withheld the announcement of the decision to enable her children complete their examinations. 
 
It was an open secret within the local party that this was her excuse for the delay but Mr Ross invited her for the talks a few days before her selection for the electoral list was announced. 
 
People close to the matter said she discussed the matter with only a few friends and informed him of his request that she step down. 
 
Late December she briefed Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy and director James Tweedie who were stated to be Rather annoyed. 
 
But she began to enlighten a large number of Tory fellows once the party declared at the election campaign that Mr Ross was to succeed Mr Duguid in contesting the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat. 
 
Mr Duguid, the incumbent MP, had been in hospital for two months with a serious spinal condition, but he strongly dismissed the party’s assertion of him being too sick to stand. 
 
This decision was arrived at by the Scottish Tory management board which Mr Hoy chairs. 
 
Ms Robertson began sharing her ordeal in the course of concerns about the party’s choice of candidates for the ticket. 
 
Even if, as the Scottish Tories claimed, it was not Mr Ross who instigated the move, the controversy led him to declare during that election campaign that he would quit as the party leader. 
 
Both Ms Robertson and Mr Ross contested the election last month which saw the SNP secure the two seats. 
 
Nevertheless, some of the contents of their discussion have remained in circulation within Tory circles, and a number of Tory MSPs were made aware of it in recent weeks. 
 
A Tory source said: “I believe that his offer to her means that already over a year ago there were intentions to make Russell Findlay the Scottish party leader. 
 
“He was briefing MSPs at the time that it was his intention to resign from Westminster and that he wanted to be first minister A few never believed that and I think Douglas should stand down immediately as a leader. ” 
 
Referring to the decision to replace Mr Duguid, they said: “It is all one big web. I believe that Douglas Ross also somehow wanted to get a seat and seized his opportunity and was hostile to the process to a fairly extent. ” 
 
‘No knowledge whatsoever’ 

A spokesman for Mr Findlay said: “Russell had no information on the conduct of these conversations of such a nature as is suggested in the article. 
 
“He is intent on campaigning optimistically for the construction of a pragmatic Conservative party of opportunity based on aspiration. 
 
Mr Ross said: Many weeks had lapsed since Kathleen had become the candidate but she had not yet come out in the open to publicly announce this so with the help of some local members I arranged to visit and ask Kathleen if she still intended to contest the seat. 
 
She told me that she was and I used her to canvass for a new constituency in the belief that she would emerge the winner. 
 
“I have kept my mouth shut since the leadership election period and the candidates and the contest and would like to reiterate that I will not comment on the contest but will continue as the leader until a successor is duly elected. 
 
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “This was a mere chat that Douglas had with Kathleen and not party business as some people may be thinking. ”