I won't be the last Tory to quit

MSP says more will walk away from 'Reform-lite' Conservatives

- HANNAH RODGER

A FORMER Scottish Conservative MSP who defected from his party has predicted more of his old colleagues will jump ship before the next election.

Jamie Greene, who announced on Friday he had joined the Lib Dems, claimed his former party was "not a happy ship" under new leader Russell Findlay.

The West Scotland MSP, 45, blasted the direction the Scottish Tories were going in and said it was clear Findlay had been installed by the "party machine" to lead a "right-wing populist narrative" in an effort to wrestle votes from Nigel Farage's Reform.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mail following his defection, Greene said: "If they think I'm just the runaway maverick then they're sorely mistaken.

"I was the first [to leave] but I'll be amazed if I'm the last. You've got a Conservative group full of some really good people who are staring into the abyss of losing their seats at the next election and seeing their party go down in a whirlpool of right-wing populism."