Call for outside scrutiny in Tory leadership fight

THE race for the Scots Tory leadership plunged into further acrimony last night amid calls from one of the campaign teams for independent election observers to monitor the count following damaging claims of bias.

Sources in the Murdo Fraser campaign said that they have raised “serious concerns about partiality” of the party’s Central Office in the hotly contested race.

It follows the suspension of the party’s media chief Ramsay Jones last week after disputed claims he had attended one of the campaign meetings of the new favourite, Ruth Davidson.

Fraser’s campaign said it may now request that the Electoral Reform Society is asked to monitor both the return of ballot papers and the counting of them, rather than Central Office staff.

However, the other leading contender in the race, Jackson Carlaw, last night said it was too late to bring in outside scrutiny.

Davidson’s campaign has also strongly rebuffed any suggestion it is getting support from the party’s Central Office, which is over-seeing the running of the contest.

Senior party figures say they fear the bitterness of the four-pronged fight – Margaret Mitchell is the fourth contender – is threatening the party’s unity, no matter what the result may be when it is announced in early November.

The bias allegations have emerged over the last week and come after Fraser’s dramatic announcement last month that he will seek to disband the party and create a new centre-right force if he becomes leader. The fiercely controversial move has seen Davidson emerge as the bookie’s favourite to win. Throughout it, party chairman Andrew Fulton has informed Tory staff that they have to remain “strictly neutral” during the contest.

On Wednesday last week, he decided to suspend Jones following allegations about his links to the Davidson campaign.

However, Fraser claims that the favouritism towards Davidson runs deeper and has now cast doubt over the election process. One source in the Fraser campaign said: “Jackson asked for the election to be conducted by the Electoral Reform Society and that was rejected. It may be too late, but the ERS could supervise the return of the ballot papers and the counting of them. That is something we are looking for and we want to restore objectivity.”

Carlaw’s team last night said that bringing in an independent body to monitor the election would not be necessary.

Meanwhile, in an article in Scotland on Sunday today, Davidson says she will “embody” the change required.