Four MSPs stood in the contest.
Jackson Carlaw MSP Jackson Carlaw had been MSP for the
West Scotland region since 2007 and was the then party spokesman on energy, transport and climate change. He was previously the deputy chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, chairman of the party's youth wing, Conservative Future Scotland, and board member of the
UK-wide Conservatives. He had unsuccessfully contested the Scottish Parliament constituency of
Eastwood three times, holding a notional majority of over 3,500 votes on the third occasion. He was the first contender to declare their candidacy, on 10 August 2011, and launched his campaign on 2 September. Carlaw was described as being on the
right of the party, and was against transferring further powers to
Holyrood. Upon launching his campaign, he declared that the
referendum on Scottish independence should take place before any discussion over further devolution. He also declared that he was the "unity option" for party members.
Murdo Fraser MSP Murdo Fraser had been MSP for
Mid Scotland and Fife since 2001, party spokesman on health and the deputy leader of the party between 2005–11. A former chairman of the
Scottish Young Conservatives (1989–92), he unsuccessfully contested the seat of
Tayside North five times at the Scottish and
Westminster elections. He belonged to the
Conservative Christian Fellowship, the
Scotland Malawi Partnership and had been Parliamentary Advisor to the Autism Treatment Trust. Fraser declared his candidacy on 26 August. Regarded as being to the right of the party, Fraser supported greater tax and spending powers for the Scottish Parliament in the form of further financial devolution. On 1 September, Fraser outlined his vision for 'New Unionism', with the intention of 'killing
independence' and then 'break[ing] the SNP'. He stated his rejection of full
fiscal autonomy for Scotland, calling it 'independence in disguise', but pledged support for financial devolution, which he claimed would make Parliament more accountable for the money it spends. On 4 September, Fraser made a high-profile announcement, that if elected, he would disband the party in favour of setting up a new centre-right party fully autonomous of the UK Conservative Party, but would take the Conservative whip at Westminster. Fraser stated that this would be done to 'de-toxify' the party in Scotland, saying that it would have a distinct Scottish identity, would represent Scottish values, would support devolution and decentralisation, and would fight to maintain Scotland's place within the United Kingdom. He also would rename the party – dropping the name 'Conservative' – with possible new names cited as Scottish Reform Party, Scottish Unionists, The Scottish Progressives, the Progressive Conservatives, Scotland First, Scotland Forward, Caledonian Party or The Caledonians. The name 'Unionist' was downplayed, so as to avoid connotation to Northern Ireland sectarianism, and because a smaller
Scottish Unionist Party also existed, this rendered a change to this name impossible under electoral law. The plan would see a return to the situation of conservatism in Scotland between 1912 and 1965, when the
Scottish Unionist Party was completely autonomous of the Conservative Party in England and Wales, but took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and even contributed two UK Prime Ministers:
Bonar Law and
Alec Douglas-Home. Fraser noted that during this time the then-known Unionists achieved their best result in Scotland; in
1955, they won more seats than Labour, and took over 50% of the vote, a feat that no political party had achieved in a Scottish election since. However, after the events of 1965, when the Unionist Party merged into the UK-wide Conservative Party, the party began a decline which culminated in the loss of all Scottish Conservative seats in
1997. Fraser also cited examples of the situation existing successfully in other countries, for instance the centre-right
Christian Social Union of Bavaria took the whip of the
German Christian Democratic Union in the
German parliament, but maintained autonomy as a party. On 11 October Fraser outlined ten pledges to fulfill, shown below, were he to win the contest: • Hold monthly conference calls with constituency association chairmen. • Hold regular 'candidate conferences' to ensure that candidates receive the support they need. • Restore real debate and votes on policy at Party Conferences. • Develop a new national and local media strategy to ensure that the party would obtain greater coverage. • Introduce a national and local online and social media strategy to raise the party profile and take its message to younger voters in particular. • Work closely with the youth wing in the party and target younger professionals to become voters, members and candidates. • Set up a special committee to organise fundraising for all campaigns throughout Scotland. • Establish national policy groups with experts from both inside and outside the party, and give every constituency the opportunity to provide input to these groups. • Establish an annual awards programme to recognise outstanding effort by associations, candidates and individuals. • Visit every
constituency at least once a year. Fraser declared his opposition to the centralisation of Scottish police forces on 25 October, saying: "Such a centralisation of power is incompatible with a belief in localism that is common across western European centre-right parties".
Ruth Davidson MSP Ruth Davidson had been MSP for the
Glasgow region since 2011 and party spokeswoman on culture. She formerly contested the Westminster seat of
Glasgow East at a
by-election in 2009 and at the 2010 General Election. Davidson declared her candidacy on 4 September, the same day that Murdo Fraser made his pitch to disband the Scottish Conservatives and start up a new party. Davidson was described as more politically moderate than her main opponents
Margaret Mitchell MSP A former
Justice of the Peace, Mitchell had represented the
Central Scotland region in the Scottish Parliament since 2003. She declared in July her support for
Lord Forsyth, however Forsyth declared his backing for another candidate in September. On the day of nominations closing on 23 September, Mitchell declared that she would stand in the contest, having received the necessary 100 nominations. She opposed the
Scotland Bill 2011, calling its proposal to vary tax by 10p as 'crazy', and voiced opposition to the idea of Scottish Conservatives disbanding into a new centre-right party.
Speculated candidates who did not stand in the contest •
John Lamont – MSP for
Ettrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire and party spokesman on justice. Lamont had strongly hinted that he would run for the leadership, shortly after the Scottish parliament elections. However, in June 2010, Lamont attacked the system of state-funded Roman Catholic education in west-central Scotland, reportedly 'self-destructing' his chances of standing for leadership. •
Gavin Brown – then-MSP for the
Lothian region since 2007, and party spokesman on the economy. On 1 September, Brown stated that, after consideration, he would not stand in the contest and declared his support for Murdo Fraser. •
Annabel Goldie – Former party leader (2005–11) and MSP for West of Scotland. however on 11 September, Forsyth declared his backing for Ruth Davidson and Mitchell went on to declare her own candidacy. ==Reaction to Murdo Fraser's proposal==