Douglas Ross has admitted his party failed to live up to expectations as he tries to claw back support after a chaotic year.
The Holyrood Conservative chief, and Moray MP, was regularly caught in the crossfire of Tory upheaval at Westminster in a year which saw Boris Johnson and Liz Truss quit in disgrace.
His party lost more than 60 seats across Scotland in the May council elections as voters responded in anger to Westminster scandals.
And in a speech today, the Scottish Tory leader said: “Last year was difficult for the Conservative Party across the UK.
“To be frank, we haven’t lived up to expectations.”
His speech in Edinburgh was an attempt to turn the political fight to his opponents at Holyrood, including a Labour party which has pushed back in front of Tories in opinion polls.
Our focus, as a UK and Scottish party, must be on working to re-earn trust.
– Douglas Ross
It follows a difficult year for Mr Ross, who was accused of flip-flopping while UK leaders came and went.
Last January, Mr Ross demanded Mr Johnson resign as prime minister due to the partygate scandal.
However, he was criticised when he made a U-turn and insisted Mr Johnson should remain in the top job due to the war in Ukraine just months later.
He then changed his mind again and insisted Mr Johnson should go.
Months later, Mr Ross backed disastrous tax cuts made by Liz Truss during her ill-fated tenure as Tory leader.
He was again mocked by rivals when he later admitted new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had been correct to undo Ms Truss’ economic agenda.
And in a PR disaster, Mr Ross faced ridicule after hiring a new aide who embellished his CV to falsely claim he was a key adviser to ex-Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy.
Across the UK, the Tories slumped in the polls and look set to lose the next election to Labour.
But Mr Ross insisted new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is best-placed to win back disillusioned Tories.
‘Quiet competency’
In his speech, he said: “Our focus, as a UK and Scottish party, must be on working to re-earn trust.
“Rishi Sunak’s first couple of months in office have shown a return to the quiet competency that voters expect from us.”
Mr Ross criticised the SNP’s plans to hold an independence debate when Holyrood reconvenes next Tuesday in the midst of a major NHS crisis.
He said: “It’s not a priority, it’s not a priority for me, it’s not a priority for my party. There is so much more we can focus on.”
The Tory chief said his party plans to hold a special conference in April to form a “vision that will deliver an end to the nationalism that has divided Scotland since 2007”.
Mr Ross was keen to set out his party’s stall as the most effective opposition to the SNP as he accused Anas Sarwar of “playing for Team Sturgeon”.
He claimed Mr Sarwar’s party failed to hold Ms Sturgeon’s government to account by backing them on gender reform and the rent freeze.
He said: “Labour are an opposition to the SNP in name only – they only offer more of the same.”
Labour MP Ian Murray, the Shadow Scotland Secretary, said Mr Ross needs more than “a few new year resolutions” to be politically relevant.
“His first resolution should be to apologise for backing Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak while the whole country looked on in horror,” he added.
Conversation