Scots Tories 'cast adrift' by David Cameron

• David Cameron: No communication

Scotland on Sunday has learned that, since the general election, senior figures in the UK Conservative Party no longer consult or communicate with their Scottish colleagues.

As a result, Scottish party leaders have been virtually shut out of all decision-making roles and they are no longer invited to top-level strategy and policy meetings.

Indeed, the isolation of the Scottish party has reached such a pitch that Scottish leader Annabel Goldie has not spoken to David Cameron since the election, while SNP First Minister Alex Salmond has held five conversations with the Prime Minister since he took office.

One party insider said the Scottish leadership had been "cast adrift" by Westminster, which had ceded political control of the country to its coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats.

The increasingly dysfunctional nature of the relationship between the London and Edinburgh arms of the Conservatives has come to light as the party is grappling with its most damaging publicity since Cameron came to power.

Opposition politicians are demanding an independent investigation into the phone- tapping controversy that has engulfed the Prime Minister's chief spin doctor, Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World.

Questions have been raised about Cameron's judgment following allegations that Coulson knew that his reporters used information from illegal phone taps when he was in charge of the Sunday tabloid. Coulson has denied the claims, saying he was unaware of the practice. Labour yesterday called for an urgent government inquiry.

The judgment of senior Tories also came into question following William Hague's high-profile denial that he is gay following long-standing rumours about his sexuality. The Foreign Secretary released a statement last week admitting that he had shared a room with his assistant, Christopher Myers, but denying that he was homosexual.

North of the border, the party appears to have become divorced from its Westminster colleagues. On at least two occasions, major policy decisions have been taken by Conservative leaders in London in direct contradiction to Scottish Tory policy.

On both occasions, sources say, the Scottish party had no idea what was going on before the decisions were taken and, therefore, had no chance to influence policy direction.

Party insiders have revealed that this latest crisis within the Scottish party is a direct result of its poor showing in this year's general election in which it won only one seat. A party insider said: "There is no communication between the party leadership in London and the leadership in Scotland. Before the election, Annabel Goldie used to sit in the shadow cabinet. She doesn't now. There is a Cabinet and she is not there.

"David Mundell used to be there for shadow cabinet meetings, but he is not there now either. They have been cast adrift."

As a result, there are two Scottish MPs in the Cabinet, Moore and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, but no Scottish Tories.

Goldie admitted yesterday that she had not spoken to the Prime Minister since the election, but she denied there was any "disconnect" between the Scottish and London parties, insisting that she had a "line of communication" to No 10 which she could use at any time.

Goldie said: "There is not a disconnect. We retain very good communications." She added: "I am in the position where I can communicate with him in his office any time I want and, obviously, I am not going to be on the phone every five minutes to the Prime Minister, he has an important job to do.The important thing is that I have a line to communication to him if I need to use it."

Analysis by Hamish Macdonell

"I HAVE never seen her so up for the fight," one senior Scottish Tory said of his leader, Annabel Goldie, this week.

Well, she needs to be. Goldie may think she has been through the toughest six months of her time in charge of the Scottish Conservative Party, but life is about to get even harder.

Goldie is leading a party that took a battering from the electorate in May and is now virtually estranged from its parent party in London.

Not only has she to lead this demoralised group of activists and MSPs into the Scottish Parliament elections, but her party also has to make substantial progress. If not, she will be finished as leader. Goldie was pilloried after the Scottish Conservatives' dismal showing in the general election. The return of one seat was nothing short of a disaster for a party that was sweeping Labour aside in England.

If the Conservatives do well at the Holyrood elections next year and add to the party's 17 MSPs, Goldie will (probably) have done enough to silence her detractors. But any slippage will signal the end of her leadership.

Goldie made two telling remarks. She made it clear that David Cameron had led the Tories into this year's general election, not her. The implication was: "It wasn't my fault we only got one seat, it was David Cameron's."

The other was to point out that the Tory vote in Scotland went up in this year's election. She then championed the rising numbers of councillors and MSPs as evidence of progress.

The point that critics have been making repeatedly is that minuscule improvements are just not good enough.

Shifting the blame to Cameron doesn't help. Had the Scottish Tories won all the seats they had targeted, then the Conservatives would have an overall majority and would not be relying on the Liberal Democrat coalition.

If the Tories fail to win enough seats at Holyrood next year, then Goldie will take the blame – regardless of how determined she is to carry on.