A potential candidate in the Scottish Tory leadership contest has suggested the race is a sham as he criticised the timetable announced earlier today.

Jamie Greene, a west of Scotland MSP and the party's former justice spokesman, spoke out as party bosses set out the process to elect Douglas Ross's successor with the new leader to be unveiled on September 27.

It will mean the Scottish Conservatives will choose their new leader without knowing who will succeed Rishi Sunak.

The new UK Tory leader won't be announced until November 2 after the party south of the Border agreed an extended timetable.

The process for elected Mr Ross's successor formally opens on August 8 but two candidates Russell Findlay and Brian Whittle have already announced they are standing.

READ MORE: Scottish Tories to unveil new leader at end of September

Mr Findlay was first to declare he was running with Mr Whittle making his intentions public on Monday.

Mr Greene said if "the party was serious about a meaningful member-led discussion about its future it wouldn’t be cramming that hugely important debate into a two-week window" during the school holidays.

"My immediate reaction was that they may as well just hand the keys to the leader’s office to their preferred candidate now, and we can all have a nice summer," said Mr Greene.

"But the race to save the party’s future is now formally on, although it’s a strange race given that one of runners appears to have left the starting blocks early.

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"If the party was serious about a meaningful member-led discussion about its future it wouldn’t be cramming that hugely important debate into a two-week window during the school holidays.

"It makes running a viable alternative campaign to the current offering of the failed status quo very difficult. I am consulting with colleagues and will make a decision about my own position over the weekend."

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

Nominations for candidates to succeed Mr Ross will formally open next Thursday and 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.

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.

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.”

In addition to Mr Findlay and Mr Whittle, and possibly Mr Greene, six other MSPs are believed to be interested in standing.

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

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 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.

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 poor result for the SNP, the Scottish Tories 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 Wednesday's meeting, while the director of the party and the honorary secretary are non-voting members of the board.

The Scottish Conservatives were approached for comment in connection with Mr Greene's remarks.