Scots Tories in deep divide over plan to split from UK party

The proposal, by leadership frontrunner Murdo Fraser, to break away from the UK party has sparked an increasingly bitter row, with rivals to succeed Annabel Goldie attacking the policy as “reckless” and a “destabilising distraction”.

Two former Scottish secretaries, Lord Forsyth and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, have been pitted against each other over the call for a “centre-right party with a distinct Scottish identity” that would be “operationally independent” from David Cameron’s Tories at Westminster.

Engineering tycoon Jim McColl, one of Scotland’s richest men, told The Scotsman Mr Fraser’s proposal was a “very positive move” that could be a “major turning point” for the Scottish Conservatives.

The millionaire – who backed Alex Salmond in May’s Holyrood elections – said renaming and rebranding the party would “get a lot of support”.

Another tycoon, John McGlynn, who has donated about £100,000 to the Scottish Tories over the past ten years, threatened to withdraw his financial support and leave the party unless Mr Fraser’s plan came to fruition. The entrepreneur, who made his fortune from airport car parks and property, described Mr Fraser’s plan for the Scottish Tories as the “most interesting and exciting idea” in the party for a decade.

However, Jackson Carlaw, one of Mr Fraser’s rivals for the Scottish Tory leadership, accused his opponent of living in an “ivory tower” and of making a “serious misjudgment” in promoting a separation from the UK Conservatives.

Mr Carlaw, the party’s transport spokesman at Holyrood, said: “There is a fine line between being radical and recklessness.

“This proposal shows that Murdo and his cohort of supportive MSPs are living in an ivory tower with this serious misjudgment about the views of the party in the country.”

There was also scathing criticism from recently elected Glasgow MSP Ruth Davidson, who has announced her candidacy in what now looks likely to be an ill-tempered contest to replace Ms Goldie as Scottish Tory leader.

Ms Davidson said: “I am proud to be a Scottish Conservative and Unionist. This is a destabilising distraction that will be welcomed by no-one more than Alex Salmond.

“I’ve got the confidence to speak to Scots about the issues that really matter to them.”

However, there was strong backing for Mr Fraser’s campaign, which has a slogan of “a new party for Scotland”, from party grandee Sir Malcolm, who said the move would be “bold and brave”.

Mr McColl, owner of engineering firm Clyde Blowers and who is on a 2011 rich list as the ninth wealthiest Scot, with an estimated personal fortune of £570 million, welcomed the plan.

One of a series of high-profile business figures to back Mr Salmond’s re-election as First Minister, he said: “This is a very positive move by Murdo Fraser, as it recognises the need for more autonomy for the Scottish Parliament.

“To achieve the economic growth which we all want to see in Scotland, I believe we need more economic powers.

“This could be a major turning point for the Scottish Conservatives. I think he will get a lot of support.”

Mr McGlynn said: “Unless there’s a radical change, we could be left with just three MSPs in a couple of terms and if we continue down that road, I’d give serious consideration about my financial support and whether I’d be a member of the party.”

Meanwhile, in a further sign of the growing internecine conflict engulfing the Scottish Tories, Lord Forsyth, the last Conservative Scottish secretary between 1995 and 1997, accused Mr Fraser of being “naive and simplistic in the extreme”.

Another party grandee, Sir Albert McQuarrie, an MP from 1979 to 1983, claimed Mr Fraser’s proposals were “farcical”.

He said: “We’ve always been Tories and the Scottish people will always know us as Tories, whatever the name of the party is. We need people to go out and make the case for the Scottish Conservatives and it could be that another Margaret Thatcher-type figure will arise from the ashes in Scotland.”

Tory MSP Alex Johnstone, one of Mr Fraser’s key backers at Holyrood, defended the proposal.

He said: “With these proposals, Murdo has demonstrated that he is one of the few people with the vision to take the party forward in the future. The name is neither here nor there. What matters is that we have a strong and successful right-of-centre party in Scotland, and Murdo has the capacity to deliver that.”

Mr Fraser yesterday spoke of the “disgrace” of having only one MP from Scotland at Westminster and claimed the Tories could and should do better.

He said the party had been more successful before the mid-1960s, when it was known as the Unionist Party in Scotland and had won more than half of the popular vote in the 1955 general election.

“For those people who think this is a leap in the dark, let us remember that our most successful electoral period as a party came before 1965,” he said.

“We were not the Conservative Party then. We were a party which had a distinct Scottish identity.

“And in 1955, we gained the only absolute majority of votes in Scotland in the period of modern democracy. So this new party will take us back to our roots.”

Tory government ministers Michael Gove and Liam Fox, both Scots who represent constituencies south of the Border, adopted a neutral stance.

Mr Gove, who is Education Secretary, said: “One of the things I’ve learnt as a politician from Scotland but representing an English constituency is that the reality of devolution means that you should allow the party in Scotland to determine its own destiny.”

Dr Fox, the Defence Secretary, said: “It’s a necessary follow-on from the process of devolution. It’s a debate which the party in Scotland needs to have and it should not be dictated by the party in Westminster.”

Scotland Office minister David Mundell, the only Tory MP in Scotland, said changing the name would be a “simplistic” approach.

He said: “I will take a very great deal of convincing that by simply having a separate party in Scotland that will resolve the electoral issues that we face.”

Lord Sanderson, who last year conducted a review of the Tories in Scotland, said Mr Fraser’s idea was “strange” and could play into the hands of the SNP.

The Conservative peer added: “My biggest worry as far as Murdo’s ideas is concerned is does this encourage Nationalism? Does it encourage the SNP to get even stronger, which is something I would abhor.”