ALEX Cole-Hamilton has said he is “comfortable” with the Scottish LibDems being home to centre-right politicians.
On Friday, former Tory MSP Jamie Greene joined the party at its conference in Inverness.
Greene resigned the Tory whip at Holyrood over its slide to a “Reform-lite” agenda.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, Cole-Hamilton and Greene were probed on their political positions.
Greene said he found the direction of travel of the Scottish Tories “intolerable”.
“The language that was being used by their press office, by their social media presence, and also the language being used in the chamber, I felt deeply uncomfortable with,” he said.
He added: “My politics haven't changed since I was elected.”
Asked if he still considered himself a “centre-right” politician, Greene insisted that his political positions had not changed.
Cole-Hamilton was then asked if he was “comfortable” that his party, which is considered to be leaning centre and centre-left, was now home to those who sit on the centre-right.
The Scottish LibDem leader then rejected the assertion that his party was a broader church than it “used to be”.
“A broader church than the Scottish Conservatives are,” Greene interjected.
“If people like me are leaving the Scottish Conservatives, they have to have a good think about that.
“There are two ways in which they could have reacted to the events of the past week.
“The one is the direction of travel they've taken, which is double down, batten down, and go on the attack.
“The other option would have been, the better, more beneficial one is, and that's to have a period of reflection. Why is the party losing people who joined up in 2016 under Ruth Davidson?”
Greene added that he had not heard from Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay following his resignation.
He said: “But that's not surprising. I mean, it's been a difficult few days for everyone, but some of my colleagues are commenting on social media, and the sort of reaction I'm getting, I think, completely vindicates [that] I've made the right decision.”
“It crystallized my mind,” he said. “I knew in my heart of hearts that I was either going to hit a wall or a crossroads.”
On Friday, he took to the stage at the LibDem's conference in Inverness, telling the crowd he was "not sure who's more surprised to see me here, you or me".
It is understood he had joined the party that morning, taking their Holyrood cohort from four MSPs to five.
In his letter to Findlay on Thursday, Greene claimed to have joined a “modern party led by David Cameron” but added that “the unfortunate truth, however, is that the Scottish Conservative Party which I joined simply no longer exists”.
