Jackson Carlaw will take over as interim Scottish Tory leader while party officials draw up plans for a leadership contest to replace Ruth Davidson.
The Scottish Conservative Management Board met last night to create a time-table and the rules are expected to be published in the October recess.
Some senior Tories yesterday, however, argued the contest should not be held until after Christmas to avoid clashes if there is a snap election in the next few weeks and to let Brexit settle down.
Whenever the contest is held, Mr Carlaw will be one of the favourites in the race to succeed Ms Davidson.
Ruth Davidson resigns: ‘Dread’ of another election led Scottish Conservative leader to quit
Other candidates could include Murdo Fraser, who was defeated by Ms Davidson for the leadership eight years ago.
Mr Fraser would not commit to standing at this stage, arguing that Mr Carlaw should remain in post until next year.
The MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife did, however, resurrect his idea that the Scottish party should split from the UK Conservatives.
In 2011, Mr Fraser unsuccessfully stood against Ms Davidson on a ticket of rebranding the Scottish Tories and severing London-links.
Yesterday he said: “I have believed for some time that as a party in Scotland we need to be considering our relationship with the UK Conservatives and how best we build a strong, broadly based Unionist party in Scotland that can attract support with a view to defeating the SNP in 2021.”
Mr Fraser has advocated a so-called “Canadian model” – which would allow a separate centre-right party to contest Holyrood elections.
Others in the party are opposed to such a radical idea, arguing that it would be wrong to focus on internal party politics at a time of national crisis.
Other contenders include Adam Tomkins, the Glasgow MSP and law professor who was part of the Better Together campaign.
Annie Wells, another Glasgow MSP who has been prominent in parliament, might also be seen as leadership material.
Other relatively new parliamentarians like Highlands MSP Donald Cameron, the West of Scotland MSP Maurice Golden, the North East MSP Liam Kerr and Jamie Green of the West of Scotland may also fancy their chances.
The rules allow MPs to stand, which could enable Moray MP Douglas Ross to stand as a “pro-Boris” candidate.
But were an MP to win, he or she would be expected to move to Holyrood – which would prove a difficult manoeuvre to pull off.
Jim Murphy led Scottish Labour while he was an MP. But came in for criticism when Labour failed to find him a Holyrood seat.
During her leadership, Ms Davidson became an instantly recognisable figure across the UK and was even tipped as future prime minister.
A challenge the Scottish party will have to overcome is that none of those seeking to replace her enjoy that sort of profile.
