The irn lady: Ruth enters Tory fray

SHE’S a kickboxing, openly gay politician who was just a few months old when Margaret Thatcher was first elected prime minister, which makes Ruth Davidson the ideal candidate to detoxify the Tory brand in Scotland, according to supporters.

Yesterday Ms Davidson, 32, officially launched her bid to succeed Annabel Goldie as leader of the Scottish Conservatives, wryly acknowledging that she might not be the “most traditional candidate” but presenting herself as a dynamic, modern leader.

She is one of three MSPs in the race, but Ms Davidson, a list MSP for Glasgow, is thought to be the candidate most likely to claw back Tory support in Labour’s traditional heartlands in the west of Scotland.

Her charisma and drive is said to remind some of David Cameron, and sources in London say that Ms Davidson is the candidate the prime minister would like to see leading the party north of the Border.

At her launch in Edinburgh, the former BBC journalist and TA soldier made a fresh attack on the controversial proposal from her main rival Murdo Fraser for a breakaway centre-right party, calling it a move that would make the party “tie ourselves in knots”.

She also rejected the idea of extending the powers of MSPs beyond the Scotland Bill, which she described as the “line in the sand”.

Sporting a dual Saltire-Union flag badge and flanked by more than 80 supporters, Ms Davidson talked about her belief that the military might of the UK is a “force for good”.

Ms Davidson promised that she would be a “dynamic modern leader” as she backed the controversial free schools policy, one of the flagship policies of Mr Cameron’s Tory-led government of stripping local councils of their powers to run schools.

Ms Davidson said: “I would love to see more tailored ability for pupils. I don’t believe local authorities should be de facto providers of education.”

The Tory MSP also said she would bring a “decade of success” to the party, with a highly ambitious pledge for it to be a “major part” of a coalition government at Holyrood by the end of a 10-year period.

Ms Davidson said: “The debate so far has been dominated by the distraction over whether we should disband, rebrand, change our name or renegotiate our relationship with colleagues in England and Wales. I have no interest in change for its own sake. We could spend the next 12 months discussing the internal machinations of the party. We could tie ourselves in knots.

“But I most certainly would not and Scots would not care. Real change will come when the party unites behind a dynamic modern leader.”

Ms Davidson boasted that she was “not afraid” of First Minister Alex Salmond and promised to resist any “march to fiscal autonomy” through greater powers beyond the Scotland Bill.

She said: “That should be seen in Scotland as the point at which we gave the parliament its MOT. It’s time to use those powers”

Ms Davidson, who once broke her back during an officer training exercise on Salisbury Plain, talked about her pride in Scotland’s armed forces.

She said: “Ten years ago, when I was a junior reporter, I was in Kosovo with the Black Watch.

“They did that with a Union flag on their arm because they believed in something and I believe it too. I believe that the United Kingdom is a force for good in this world.”

Tory MSP John Scott compared Ms Davidson’s performance to a conference speech made by Mr Cameron.

Mr Scott said: “I was at Blackpool in 2005 and heard David Cameron just before he became leader. Ruth Davidson has the charisma and potential to deliver the same sort of change for the party in Scotland that David Cameron did at UK level.”