FORMER Scottish Tory MSP Jamie Greene has said that he was abused by supporters of the party after he defected to the LibDems.
Writing in the Guardian, the MSP also predicted that others would defect from the Scottish Tory Holyrood group before the 2026 elections next May, and took a sly pot-shot at leader Russell Findlay.
It comes a week after Greene defected from the Tories to the Scottish LibDems, launching a fierce attack on his former party’s “Reform-lite” agenda.
“The Scottish Conservative Party which I joined simply no longer exists,” he said at the time.
In the Guardian, Greene expanded on this – saying that he had gone from being supported in attending events such as LGBT Pride (Greene is a gay man) to being attacked.
“I went from being cheered at Edinburgh Pride one year as a Tory showing solidarity, to being escorted off stage by security for my safety the next year. Hostile crowds don’t boo politicians if they’re happy with the party they represent, do they?”
He went on: “The rise of Reform UK, once seen as a joke of an outfit, started to create cracks in any veneer of decency left in the Conservative movement. The shine of tolerance and acceptance wore off.
“The top layer of ‘big church, broad tent’ paint was stripped to reveal what was always underneath: the old-fashioned ‘nasty party’ of 1980s politics. I know this because I have been on the receiving end of it for some time, and it is as disgusting as it is upsetting.”
Detailing some of the attacks, Greene added: “When the news broke of my departure, I received an email from a Tory supporter that read: ‘With your perverse views you won’t be missed, good riddance.’
“Days later, the Tory HR spin machine was spouting that I would ‘feel at home with gender extremists’ and denouncing ‘nonsense’ views and ideologies.
“The vindictive reaction to my departure from some within the party on social media, quoting Bible verses about Judas, further reinforces my view that getting out was the right thing to do.”
The MSP said he had felt “more tolerance in three days [since joining the LibDems] than I have in the past three years”.
Greene was one of three Scottish Tory MSPs – alongside former leader Jackson Carlaw and healths spokesperson Sandesh Gulhane – to back the Scottish parliament’s gender reform bill when it passed in 2022.
Closing his article in the Guardian, Greene took a tacit pot-shot at Findlay, the current leader of the Scottish Tories, who has made “common sense” his slogan, while leaning into increasingly hard-right rhetoric.
“I may have been the first MSP to leave the Tories in Scotland in this parliamentary session, but I’d be amazed if I am the last,” Greene said. “The sentimental part of me hopes this whole sorry saga serves as a wake-up call for the decent folk among them.
“The language of far-right division doesn’t win elections. A positive and inclusive vision does. That’s just common sense.”
A Scottish Tory spokesperson said: “Under Russell Findlay's leadership we will continue to unashamedly promote the common-sense conservative values of mainstream Scotland.
“We'll also continue to oppose Nicola Sturgeon’s dangerous gender ideology and stand up for those who want their politicians to show some common sense for a change."
