Ex-Olympian enters Scottish Tory leadership race

To Scotland, where another Tory leadership race is starting to take shape. Now a second candidate has thrown their hat into the ring as Brian Whittle MSP has today announced his bid to join the Scottish Conservative leadership race – confirming there will indeed be a contest. Game on…

The former athlete told the Scotsman that he will help the party ‘prepare for the next race’, promising his campaign will emphasise education, enterprise, and empowerment whilst stressing the importance of ‘telling hard truths’. Pointing to his party’s recent election result, the South Scotland MSP insisted:

Losing hurts, every single time. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in politics, in business, in sport, or in any other competition. For me though, it’s not the losses that matter – it’s how I respond to them. One of the most valuable things I learned in sport is resilience – that drive to brush yourself off, pick yourself up and start thinking about how to beat whoever beat you.