Frontrunner for leadership wants to disband the Scottish Tory Party

It has to be one of the most astonishing – not to mention bold and risky – moves ever attempted by a politician, of any colour. This morning Murdo Fraser, the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party and clear frontrunner for the leadership of the Scottish Tories, announced plans to disband his own party if he wins the leadership contest.

Under his plans, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party would cease to be. It would be an ex-party. The Conservatives would fight no more elections in Scotland after next year’s council elections. Instead, a new centre-right party would take its place, crucially free from the toxicity which still surrounds the Conservative brand north of the border. In a revealing statement, one of Fraser’s strategists explained the thinking by saying:

“Murdo believes that there is no point having a new captain on the bridge of the Titanic. Whoever is captain, the Titanic is going to sink.