A Tory fundraising dinner "in support of Scotland" has been mocked after it emerged it is going to be held 350 miles away in a Chelsea mansion.
The Conservative Friends of the Union (CFU) group is charging £750 a head for the event.
Although the Scottish Tories are part of the pro-Union Better Together campaign, CFU is the party's internal group opposing independence.The Edinburgh-based body reportedly has a six-figure war chest and will hold fundraising events.
However, CFU's Scottish credentials were questioned in March after it was revealed its first dinner was run by the English-based "United and Cecil club" from a house in Sussex.
The event, held Edinburgh, included Conservatives bussed in from south of the Border.
A leaked circular flagging up the next CFU dinner has opened the door to more criticism.
Written by party treasurer James Stewart, the event, "in support of Scotland remaining within the United Kingdom", is to be held at the "majestic" Crosby Hall mansion in Chelsea, a "historic mediaeval building".
Speakers include Surrey Heath MP Michael Gove and hereditary peer Lord Strathclyde.
A senior Conservative source said: "This is yet another own-goal and more ammunition for the Nationalists. Everything is done through a London prism."
An SNP spokesman said: "This confirms that the No campaign is Tory-led and is being funded and driven from south of the Border."
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: "The Sunday Herald must be struggling for stories if it thinks a political party holding a fundraising dinner for its supporters ahead of such a crucial decision is newsworthy."
BY PAUL HUTCHEON
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article