Scottish Tory leadership contender Murdo Fraser has said his party does not need a novice in charge as he positions himself as the candidate to take on First Minister John Swinney.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald, the Mid Scotland and Fife MSP has set out his stall on why he should replace Douglas Ross as leader.
The contest, which also includes former deputy leader Meghan Gallacher and the party's justice spokesman Russell Findlay, comes to an end on September 27.
The five week battle has saw what the candidates described as "blue on blue attacks" and included calls from Mr Fraser for his two leadership rivals to drop out of the contest to endorse him in a "coronation" while avoiding a potentially damaging campaign.
However, that did not happen and the three have travelled across the country speaking to party members at hustings.
Mr Fraser said the main concern of party members was the ability to win back support following a bruising UK general election result.
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While the Scottish Tories lost just one of their five seats from 2019, Mr Ross experienced an embarrassing loss in the July 4 vote, granting the SNP their only gain on the election.
On a UK level, the Tories suffered their worst result in terms of seats in history, with the party now on 121 while Reform swept up many of their voters.
Now Mr Fraser said party members need a recovery at the Holyrood elections, despite polls signalling the Tories could lose half of their seats in 2026.
He said: "Time is very tight. By the time we get to the end of the (leadership) contest we will only have 19 months until the Holyrood election - we may even get a Holyrood election in the spring if the budget falls.
"It's a limited space of time but it means whoever wins will need to hit the ground running."
He said the party would need a "clear policy agenda" that is not based solely on the opposition to Scottish independence.
He received criticism internally at the time for his suggestion that the Scottish party should consider cutting ties with the UK party to develop a new centre-right party.
He lost to Ms Davidson with around 500 votes on the second count.
Asked why he could win now, he said: "I think we're in a different place as a party. I pose my pitch this time as the most experienced MSP who is standing for leadership and the most experienced MSP in the group.
"I've led the party on the economy, business and tourism, education, health and the constitution.
"We've got 19 months and we don't have time to bring somebody up to speed. As Gordon Brown (former Labour prime minister) said: this is not the time for a novice.
"It's the time for somebody who can bring the party together and get on with the job really quickly."
Mr Fraser also has more than a decade of experience in taking on Mr Swinney in the Perthshire North constituency.
He has never beaten Mr Swinney in the constituency vote and has instead been elected through the party list system.
In 2021, Mr Swinney won the Holyrood seat by 19,860 votes to Mr Fraser's 15,807.
Their first battled for the North Tayside seat in the 1997 UK Government election, with Mr Swinney winning.
Mr Fraser unsuccessfully stood against Mr Swinney in the then Holyrood North Tayside seat - now Perthshire North - in 2003 and 2007. Instead, he was elected through the regional list.
Discussing that rivalry, he said: "I know John really well and I respect him as an opponent. It has been really interesting to watch his performance as First Minister, the way he comes in and the way he's perhaps tried to shift with the SNP and (deputy first minister) Kate Forbes.
"I think he is finding there are quite significant internal battles around that where some of the agenda that Kate is pursuing around the economy and tax might not be where the rest of the party wants to go."
Mr Faser said it was "quite possible" Mr Swinney will not be his opponent in 2026 if the Scottish Government fails to pass its budget.
But he said: “I would also point out that I’ve substantially increased the Conservative vote in that constituency at the last election to just over 16,000 and around just under 40% of the vote share.
“There’s a heck of a lot of MSPs in this Parliament who have been elected with fewer votes than that and a lower vote than that."
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