The Scottish Tories have formally announced the start of their leadership contest.

Party chiefs have outlined the rules and timetable for the race following a meeting of the Scottish Conservative Management Board last night.

Nominations for candidates to succeed Douglas Ross will formally open on Thursday 8 August. Nominations will close on Thursday 22 August at 12pm with the winner declared on 27 September.

Hustings events involving the candidates will be arranged after nominations close with debates to be held across the country for party members to attend, including a national digital hustings.

Ballot papers will be posted to members on Wednesday 4 September. The ballot will close at 12pm on Thursday 26 September, and the winner will be announced on Friday 27 September.

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The new leader will be chosen via a preferential voting system, with members ranking their chosen candidates in order of preference.

The bottom ranked candidate will be eliminated in each round, with their first-preference votes redistributed until one candidate receives over 50 per cent of the votes cast. 

In line with the party’s constitution, candidates require 100 party members to nominate them in order to stand.

Mr Ross will remain party leader until his successor is announced.

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Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy, who sits on the management board, said: “Following a two-week consultation with members and elected representatives, the management board met to agree the rules and timetable for the leadership election.

“We look forward to an open contest where candidates will be able to outline their plans and policies at hustings to be held around Scotland in the coming weeks.

“Once candidates have had the opportunity to set out their stalls, a full ballot of our members will determine the next leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.”

MSPs Russell Findlay and Brian Whittle have formally confirmed their decisions to enter the contest, but seven other MSPs are believed to be interested in standing.

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They are Meghan Gallagher, Jamie Greene, Liam Kerr, Stephen Kerr, Graham Simpson, Murdo Fraser and Maurice Golden.

Mr Findlay, the party's justice spokesman and a former journalist, was the first to enter the race with Mr Whittle entering it on Monday.

Responding to the timetable for the race, Mr Findlay said: "I’m looking forward to a positive contest about our party’s future.

"Change is coming in Scotland. I want us to lead it - and to do so as proud and passionate Conservatives.

"I’m standing to unite our party behind a common-sense Conservative platform with aspiration and opportunity at its heart.

"I want to invite everyone to join my campaign to build a modern, dynamic and member-led party that can deliver the electoral success that conservative Scotland needs.”

Writing in the Scotsman earlier this week, Mr Whittle, a former Olympic runner, said the party needed to "pick ourselves up and prepare for the next race”.

Mr Whittle said the party had “never been a serious contender” to take over in Scotland in the 25 years of the Scottish Parliament.

“We can do better than that,” he added.

“As a party we must be more pro-active. It is not enough to respond to events. We must shape them.”

His candidacy, he said, has three “core principles” – education, enterprise and empowering people.

The party, he added, must also be willing to “tell hard truths”, adding: “A party that tries to be all things to all people will most likely end up being nothing to anyone.”

Mr Whittle continued: “I’m not going to offer platitudes or quick fixes because that’s not what we need.

“The Scottish Conservatives can be an effective, pragmatic, and successful centre-right government in Scotland.

“The path to get there will not be quick or easy, but then again, few things worth doing are easy.”

Mr Findlay, the West of Scotland MSP since 2021, previously wrote books on gangland crime and was the victim of an acid attack in 2015, when an assailant appeared at his door disguised as a postman.

He has vowed to build a "positive, modern" party in Scotland.

"We must refocus our efforts from predominantly battling against independence to instead leading a patriotic conservative movement that stands for aspiration and ambition," he said unveiling his bid to become party leader last month.

"We've got to set out a positive conservative vision that appeals to the interests, hopes and needs of ordinary people the length and breadth of Scotland.

Earlier this week senior MSP Murdo Fraser called for a commission to be established to look at the relationship between the Scottish Tories and the UK-wide party.

Writing in The Telegraph earlier this week, Mr Fraser said that a “senior independent party figure” should be appointed to lead the probe, reporting after the 2026 Holyrood election.

There are now less than two years until the next Holyrood election. Polls put the Tories in a distant third.

The general election was a disaster for the party with their vote in Scotland near enough halved, down 12.4 percentage points to 12.7%.

However, thanks to a terrible result for the SNP, they managed to win five seats, just one less than in 2019.

They would also likely have won Aberdeenshire North and Moray East had it not been for the controversy surrounding Douglas Ross;s ousting of David Duguid and the decision by Reform UK to stand in the seat.

The outgoing Scottish Tory leader upset some of his MSPs and activists after announcing his intention to run for Westminster, despite previously promising to commit his energies to be leader of the Tory group at the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Ross stood in the new Aberdeenshire North anf Moray East constituency, replacing Mr Duguid, who, at the last minute, was declared too ill to campaign by the Party’s Management Board.

There was unease in the party over the decision, particularly as Mr Duguid insisted repeatedly he was well enough to stand.

The row ultimately triggered Mr Ross's resignation.

The party's management board meeting was held – and the timetable agreed – after a two-week consultation process in which party members were invited to make submissions.

The Scottish Conservative management board comprises eight people in addition to the director of the party.

These are the party chairman, the party leader, the national convener, honorary secretary, treasurer and three regional conveners (the latter three elected by party members).

Mr Ross took no part in yesterday’s meeting, while the director of the party and the honorary secretary are non-voting members of the board.