David Torrance: Outcome shows just how much Conservative Party has changed

THE election of Ruth Davidson as leader is the culmination of a remarkably quick rise through the ranks of a party that has traditionally valued safe pairs of hands and time-served candidates over fresh-faced MSPs with little experience of the party and its byzantine structures.

Davidson more than held her own during a lengthy leadership campaign, responding slickly at hustings and in television interviews. She was, however, weak on policy and strategy, shortcomings that did not seem to improve as the campaign progressed. Ironically, despite presenting herself as the “change” candidate, Davidson ended up proposing the least change of the three front-runners.

With the backing of only two Tory MSPs, Davidson finds herself in a similar position to Ed Miliband as leader of the UK Labour Party. Most Labour MPs backed his brother David, and in Scotland most of the 15-strong Conservative MSP group backed Murdo Fraser. Although Fraser made it clear he would support whoever won the leadership, it remains an obvious point of tension.

Will the Scottish Tory party split? It’s not impossible, but at this stage it is unlikely. There would be little to be gained by either camp, and most likely the half-dozen or so MSPs who supported Fraser will pledge allegiance to Davidson, although perhaps with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Davidson’s leadership pitch boiled down to this: she’s a fresh face, unencumbered with the ideological baggage of the 1980s, and she will work harder at connecting with non-Tory voters. Both are reasonable positions, but there is little evidence either will work. Since 1997, the Scottish Tory party has experimented with popular leaders and all sorts of re-engagement strategies, yet the downward trajectory has continued.

Another problem is the lack of any convincing strategy for the Scottish Conservatives in the run-up to an independence referendum likely to be held in 2015 or even 2016.

Davidson’s view is that the existing Scotland Bill ought to be “the line in the sand” on the constitutional question, but going into such a campaign urging a “no, no” vote when most opinion polls show the majority of Scots support greater powers for the Scottish Parliament presents an obvious dilemma.

Despite her media background, Davidson also lacks enthusiastic support among the Fourth Estate, most of whom were broadly supportive of Fraser’s plan to disband the party and start from scratch.

DAVIDSON and her media advisers (it still isn’t certain if veteran spin doctor Ramsay Jones, an apparent Davidson supporter, will return to the fold) will have to work very hard to gain positive coverage in the months ahead.

Davidson will also have to prove her credentials at the weekly First Minister’s Questions, a major challenge given Alex Salmond’s continued dominance of the Holyrood chamber and the Scottish political scene in general. Perhaps as a young, energetic woman Davidson will be able to pull that off. She is also openly gay which, if nothing else, demonstrates how much the Scottish Conservative Party, and indeed Scotland, has changed.