A senior Tory described the campaign of the colleague he hopes will be the party’s next leader as “awful” in a private message accidentally shared with all of his contacts.

Stephen Kerr, who is backing Murdo Fraser and has previously criticised infighting among the candidates and their teams, also said he wished he had publicly backed another MSP instead.

Because he posted the criticism as his status on WhatsApp, anyone with his number was able to read the disparaging comments.

READ MORE: Nominations for Scottish Tory leadership race set to open

The Times reported that Mr Kerr questioned Murdo Fraser’s decision to publicize an online meeting with party transport spokesman and possible leadership contender Graham Simpson.

Mr Kerr wrote, “Really?” before adding: “Simpson knows zilch about working with councillors.”

He then wrote, “I’m beginning to wish I’d nominated Meghan [Gallagher],” before adding, “Murdo’s campaign is awful.”

In a statement, Mr Kerr told the paper he still backed Mr Fraser's bid for the leadership.

He said his comments had been “taken out of context.”

“I have known Murdo nearly all of my adult life, and I am certain he is the leader we now need,” he said.

“He has the right instincts to be an outstanding Scottish Conservative party leader. As we have already seen in this leadership campaign, he has the vision, the plan, and the passion to rebuild our party. He will deliver a Scottish Conservative policy platform to transform our country and improve the everyday life experiences and life chances of the people of Scotland. I was delighted to nominate him for the role of party leader.

“In a private conversation, in comments taken out of context, I expressed some concerns about one aspect of an upcoming event. The person with whom I was having the private conversation is a close friend.”

Mr Fraser declined to comment, stating that he had not seen Mr Kerr’s posts.

Mr Simpson also said he had not seen the messages but added, “I don’t believe for a minute that Stephen thinks that.”

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The party is currently in the process of finding a replacement for Douglas Ross. Six candidates have already declared.

In addition to Mr Fraser and Ms Gallagher, Liam Kerr, Brian Whittle, Jamie Greene, and Russell Findlay have all thrown their hats into the ring.

Nominations close on August 22, with a ballot opening soon after.

The winner will be announced on September 27.

There are due to be a number of hustings involving the candidates across the country.

On Tuesday, it emerged that the media could be excluded from the events, despite the Scottish Tories criticising the SNP’s bid to ban media during its leadership contest last year.

At the time, Craig Hoy, the Scottish Tory chairman, said the SNP were “desperate for their internal civil war to be conducted in private, rather than airing their dirty linen in public.”

He accused the party of having a “cowardly and paranoid media blackout” that was “nothing short of a disgrace.”

Eventually, the SNP backed down on excluding journalists.

A spokesman for the Scottish Tories insisted no decision had been made on the format of the hustings.

“The hustings are arranged to enable party members to question the candidates so that they can make an informed choice on who to vote for as leader.

“The party will announce the format for hustings, and arrangements for media access to them, after consulting with all of the candidates.”