The Scottish Tory leader argues that his party is shaking off its ‘toxicity’ in Scotland, writes TERRY MURDEN
During a frantic election campaign the questions and answers come thick and fast, though hearing himself as a television quiz question caught Russell Findlay by surprise. “Did Clive Myrie just say my name?” he said while watching an episode of Mastermind. Asked which party Mr Findlay represented, the contestant answered correctly. She was either well up to speed with Scottish politics, or it was a good guess.
For the Tory leader it represented some personal recognition in a campaign that requires him to raise his own personal stock amid some murmurings in recent months that the public don’t know who he is.
It’s not as if he’s hard to notice. He’s a tall, imposing figure who took no prisoners during his time as a crime reporter for the Scottish Sun. He has written three books, one of which is about a doorstep attack when a criminal disguised as a postal worker threw sulphuric acid at him. Findlay managed to hold his attacker down long enough for the police to arrive and arrest him.
“You can’t run away from threats. It does not work,” he says. “You have to be defiant and stand firm for what you believe in.” It’s a principle he has taken into politics since becoming the director of communications for the Scottish Conservatives in 2020. He became its leader four years later.
Compared with the 2015 attack, from which he made a full recovery, there is little his opponents can throw at him that will cause him too many sleepless nights. Even so, they come armed with some lethal weaponry. They just have to mention a few Tory names, Boris and Truss, spat out by those who see the word Tory as a four-letter word. Findlay openly supported the bid of Liz Truss to become prime minister in the 2022 leadership election, an endorsement regularly used to discredit his judgement.
In September 2024 he won the election to succeed Douglas Ross as party leader and he has had little time to impress his brand of politics on the public. Not that he has held back in his attacks on the government. He has delivered punishing blows on First Minister John Swinney, accusing him of incompetence and duplicity.
Some say his style, particularly at First Minister’s Questions, is overly aggressive. Some want more of the same. “He’s a big man with a story of taking on aggressors, he should use that more to show he means business,” says one Tory insider.
As it is, his campaign is an uncompromising list of demands based on what he calls “common sense” politics that cut to the core of what he believes the public want politicians to tackle: potholes, burdensome red tape, shorter NHS queues.
He wants to see income tax cuts, paid for by having a smaller state, and investment in North Sea oil & gas. He is implacably opposed to independence and becomes exasperated by other parties which he accuses of failing to take a harder line on the issue.
Despite that, he has ruled out working with the other parties to help stop the SNP gaining a majority. “My priority has to be persuading voters that we represent reducing taxation, getting a grip on the benefits system and standing up for the union. I want them to vote for us because of what we stand for.”
He puts faith in his “peach” strategy of encouraging voters to cast their second vote for the Conservatives. “It worked in 2021 and in 2016,” he says. “Voters know they have the secret weapon of that peach vote to stop an SNP majority.”
Findlay’s attack on the size of the state focuses on cutting the down the benefits system “which has grown out of control and is no longer affordable or fair. We would reduce taxation and help to grow the economy.
“There are something like 130 quangos and a quarter we would get rid of, like CMAL which is unnecessary, and every saving would be used to put the economy at the front and centre.
“People paying their taxes can see the public sector in Scotland has grown out of all proportion. We would cut waste.”
Pressed on what services he would cut, he says “middle management” in the NHS. He would prioritise frontline services.
“I despair at the mess the SNP has made and its obsession with the constitution. But we have to be mindful of the situation we find ourselves in. John Swinney is talking about getting a majority and I have to make sure Conservative votes deploy their secret weapon of the peach ballot paper.
“For a decade we have been the only party to consistently stand up to the SNP, whether it is on the economy and taxation, free speech, gender just about every issue. We are on the right side of public opinion.”
He is also mindful of the demography of his voting base and his plans include a £500 tax relief for pensioners. To fund the party’s tax cuts, alongside £2 billion a year in new spending, Findlay outlined a plan to generate around £6bn in savings by 2031–32, primarily by slashing the benefits bill and government bureaucracy.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies welcomed pledges to simplify income tax and business rates but cast doubt on the savings, which would require “specific and potentially difficult policy choices”.
Findlay says: “We are confident in these numbers and that they add up.”
The numbers that really matter are those on polling day and the polls are not currently favourable. Norstat and Ipsos polls show the party returning just 12 MSPs, down from the 31 won in 2021.
Findlay is putting his faith in an electorate looking past the UK party’s past failings and its abhorrence of Boris Johnson’s partygate scandal and the mismanagement of the economy under Liz Truss.
He rejects any suggestion that the party should disenfranchise from its London base and create a new right wing offering in Scotland.
“No. This argument has been floated many times and has been rejected. If we separated our opponents would not give us the benefit the doubt. It would be the ultimate irony if the party of the union decided to break away from the UK party.
“Being part of the UK party has caused us problems in the past but right now Kemi [Badenoch] and I on the same page, working together, trying to rebuild public confidence.”
PERSONAL CHECKLIST
Age: 53
Education: Grew up in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, and was educated at Douglas Academy, a state school. He studied journalism at Napier Polytechnic before a 30-year career in newspapers and broadcasting covering organised crime in Scotland.
Career highlights: worked for the Sunday Mail, Scottish Sun, STV and several other outlets, before joining the Scottish Conservatives as director of communications in 2020. Elected party leader in September 2024.
Family
Findlay is a private man with an adult daughter. He has been married twice, but told Holyrood magazine “never again”.
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