Why the Tories fear Kate Forbes

Whenever a governing party changes leader midway through a parliament, it’s interesting to note what the main opposition makes of the contest. Specifically, which candidate they would be more comfortable to see win — and which they dread the most. 

So, as the SNP begins choosing Nicola Sturgeon’s replacement as party leader and first minister, I’ve been asking Scottish Tories what they think so far. Whomever the Scottish Nationalists pick will be staring down Douglas Ross every week at First Minister’s Questions, while the Scottish Tory leader will have to update his strategy and rhetoric for a post-Sturgeon era. 

So far there are two declared candidates. Health secretary and continuity Sturgeon candidate Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan, a former government minister who quit after refusing to vote for the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Neither of them came up in conversations with key Scottish Tory figures. The name that did hasn’t even declared as a candidate. That name is Kate Forbes, the Scottish finance secretary. 

I wrote earlier