SCOTTISH Tories are backing Rishi Sunak in the party leadership race through gritted teeth and are angry the two remaining candidates were both senior members of Boris Johnson's cabinet, sources suggest.
Conservative MPs and MSPs from north of the Border appear to be unenthusiastic about the choice they have been left with and are grudgingly throwing their weight behind the former chancellor over foreign secretary Liz Truss, the Times reports.
Euan Blockley, a former councillor for Linn ward in Glasgow who now works for Tory MSP Liam Kerr, said there was "anger and resentment" among party members and speculated there could be spoilt ballot papers when voting starts.
“From everything I’ve seen of Liz Truss so far there’s just so many gaffes coming out of her campaign already and I don’t want to see that, so I think it will probably have to be Rishi Sunak on balance,” he told the BBC.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross - who is both an MSP and MP - has refused to back any candidate to be the next prime minister saying he will “work with whoever” takes over from Boris Johnson.
One ballot was spoiled in the final count among MPs, which saw trade minister Penny Mordaunt drop out of the race, but Ross said he was “voting… in all stages”.
Despite calling for Johnson's resignation over the partygate scandal, former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said she would be backing Sunak who was also fined £50 for attending a Covid rule-breaking event.
Writing in The Telegraph, Davidson said: “For me, it has to be the man who knows the Treasury inside and out and who charted a steady course through Covid; a man whose intellect and ability set him apart, and who has the work ethic and seriousness of purpose for the challenges ahead."
An MSP said most Scottish parliamentarians preferred Sunak to Truss “which says more about her than him”.
Another source reportedly bemoaned MPs having whittled the field down to a “continuity conservatism comfort blanket” at the expense of candidates including Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat who were popular among Scottish Tories.
Borders MP John Lamont had offered his support to Mordaunt while Tugendhat was backed by several MSPs.
James Bundy, a councillor for Falkirk North, originally backed Kemi Badenoch but has also switched to Sunak.
He said: “Before the MPs started to eliminate, Tom Tugendhat was popular, Kemi was popular, Penny was popular. So we’ve been left with the two who had the least backing out of the final five but I think most people are now making up their minds.”
Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, Craig Hoy, the party chairman, and David Mundell, the former Scottish secretary, have not declared for either candidate.
It is thought that this is part of a strategy to avoid a repeat of the 2019 leadership contest, in which an overt “anyone but Boris” campaign from within his own party undermined the prime minister when he took office.
The Times says there are fears a similar fate could befall Truss were she to enter No 10.
