Who is in the running for the Scottish Tory leadership?

Nominations have closed in the contest to find the next leader of the Scottish Conservatives with three MSPs still in the running.

Six MSPs initially put their hat into the ring to succeed Douglas Ross but now only Murdo Fraser, Meghan Gallacher and Russell Findlay remain.

Brian Whittle, Jamie Greene and Liam Kerr initially launched bids but later pulled out. All three are backing Murdo Fraser.

Nominations closed on 22 August and the winner, elected by members, is to be announced on 27 September.

Following July's general election, each of the candidates is pledging to reinvigorate the party.

Changing political landscape

While the Scottish Tories did not have as bad a night as many in the party had feared, losing just one MP, they won just 12% of the vote share.

They also lost deposits in 16 seats where they gained less than 5% of ballots - compared to none in 2019.

The election also proved the undoing of Mr Ross, who will remain in place until a new leader is chosen before returning to the backbenches.

The Highlands and Islands MSP faced an internal revolt over a last-minute decision to run for Westminster again, in place of a colleague who had been ill in hospital.

Candidates to replace him will need 100 nominations from party members to get on the ballot paper, with the contest conducted using a preferential voting system.

The bottom ranked candidate will be eliminated in each round, with their first-preference votes redistributed until one candidate receives over 50% of votes cast.

Whoever wins the race will need to contend with a challenging political landscape for Conservatives in Scotland.

They’re still the second largest party at Holyrood, but it looks like Labour is eating into their vote, while Nigel Farage’s Reform could also pose a threat.

Looking ahead, the Scottish political battlefield isn’t as fertile for them as it once was.

After heavy SNP loses, it feels like we’ll be hearing less about a second independence referendum in the near future.

The Scottish Tories may have opposed independence, but the spectre of another referendum was a very useful campaigning tool for them.

It feels like this is a party that will need to adjust.

So who is still in the running? And where would they take the Scottish Conservatives?

Russell Findlay: The frontrunner

The first candidate to launch their campaign was the party's justice spokesperson, Russell Findlay.

A former investigative journalist, he was the party's director of communications before becoming an MSP for the West of Scotland in 2021.

Mr Findlay has written books on gangland crime and was the victim of an acid attack in 2015, when an assailant appeared at his door disguised as a postman.

After announcing his candidacy, he said he had been warned by Police Scotland of a threat to his life from a "known criminal".

The frontbencher - who had been widely expected to run and was considered an early favourite - announced his candidacy before the format of the contest had even been announced.

He vowed to build a "positive, modern" Conservative movement in Scotland as he urged the party to "refocus our efforts from predominantly battling against independence".

Meghan Gallacher: A rapid rise

Deputy leader Meghan Gallacher, another who was widely tipped to run, was the next candidate to declare.

She has enjoyed a rapid political rise after joining North Lanarkshire Council in 2017 aged 25.

Ms Gallacher was elected an MSP for Central Scotland in 2021. The following year, she was named deputy to Mr Ross and was front and centre of the party’s opposition to controversial proposals to make it easier for Scots to change their legal sex.

The politics graduate may be dusting off her dissertation, which examined the decline of the Conservative Party in Scotland.

She said the contest was an opportunity for a reset and that she wanted to build a "modern, centre-right party".

Murdo Fraser: No party split

Veteran MSP Murdo Fraser has also thrown his hat into the ring - and it's not his first rodeo.

The Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP has been at Holyrood since 2001 and ran to lead his party in 2011, but lost out to Ruth Davidson.

He had a radical platform back then: arguing for the party to change its name and split from the UK Conservatives, but has backed away from that approach this time.

“I want this party to speak with a distinctive Scottish voice, but I won’t be splitting it or setting up a new one," Mr Fraser said. "My aim is to unite the party, not divide it."

That has not prevented him from taking a swipe at the UK party, nor the current Scottish leader.

Mr Fraser said the party had been "let down" by Douglas Ross, as well as by Boris Johnson over Partygate, Liz Truss over her disastrous mini-budget and Rishi Sunak at D-Day commemorations.

Borrowing a phrase from Mr Johnson, the seasoned MSP vowed party members would “take back control” under his leadership.