The race to replace Douglas Ross as Scottish Tory leader is underway. On Monday morning, the party's Justice spokesman, Russell Findlay, became the first MSP to throw his name into the hat. Writing for Unspun, Graham Simpson, who is considering a tilt at the top job, explains how he has learned from the experience of working for a "not great" boss.

Scotland goes to the polls in less than two years to elect a new Scottish Government.

Bet you can’t wait.

That government must be a recovery government to repair the years of damage done to our public services and the fabric of society by the SNP.

The country needs to move on from the division of nationalism.

We need a Scottish Government focussed solely on delivering for the people.

That does not mean picking fights with our nearest neighbours.

Unlike some, I am not a betting man but if I was then I would not be putting any money on the next leader of the Scottish Conservatives being First Minister.

My party is the official opposition in Holyrood but if there was an election this week that would not be the case.

We have slipped and slipped badly.

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Part of the reason for that has been the behaviour of our UK counterparts and part has been down to our own negative tactics which have ignored large parts of the country.

Well, to use a football analogy, the manager has now resigned and we can have a new one with a new backroom team to get us playing with a bit of flair and get the crowd roaring.

I am currently considering whether to put myself forward to be that manager. One colleague has already declared their candidacy and good luck to them.

It is a very tough gig and there are a number of colleagues who could do it.

We are a talented team but we haven’t been used to our full potential.

Most of my colleagues have a wealth of pre-politics experience to draw on and I would want to do that.

I first got a taste for politics at school when I joined the Young Conservatives aged 15 and gave a speech to a national YC conference in front of former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

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I then started work as a newspaper journalist following a short period on the dole after leaving school and had a career in the industry for more than 30 years. I ended up at The Scottish Sun where I was a sub editor – and a union rep in the Murdoch empire!

I have seen great bosses and not so great ones in journalism and politics and have learned from that.

I also served as a local councillor in East Kilbride for 10 years, which was a tremendous honour.

I learned during my time on South Lanarkshire Council that the best way of achieving things is to work together with other parties and I have tried to do that in the Scottish Parliament.

No one party has all the best ideas.

I convene a number of cross party groups in the parliament, including housing which The Herald covered extensively recently.

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We are currently producing a report on student homelessness. Given that we have a housing emergency I hope the housing minister Paul McLennan will act on our recommendations.

From housing to education to health and to transport, the SNP has let down Scotland.

We have become a high tax, low results country and that is just not acceptable.

Scotland has voted for that though and the challenge for us as Conservatives is to persuade people that there is a better way.

A centre right outlook is to keep things simple and for government to get out of the way as much as possible.

So, make it easy to use public transport, make it cheaper, make it easy to book a GP appointment without having to ring up at one time of the day and explain yourself, have a choice of schools where teachers can teach without meddling, and attract business to Scotland with a simple low tax regime. In the justice system, put victims and their families first.

There is lots for us to get our teeth into but we need to put ourselves back on the park using our full squad.

Graham Simpson is the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party MSP for Central Scotland. He is the party's spokesperson on energy, transport and net zero.