New Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay was mocked over his slavish support for Liz Truss during his debut at First Minister’s Questions. John Swinney derided Findlay for backing the disastrous ex Conservative MP to be Prime Minister.
Findlay succeeded Douglas Ross last week after a bruising leadership contest. In his first weekly joust with Swinney, he raised the Government’s troubled national care service plan which has seen council chiefs and trade unions walk away.
He called on the Bill to be scrapped and said Swinney’s Government needed a “reality check”.
Swinney responded by reminding MSPs of Findlay’s support for Truss when she went head to head for the UK Tory crown against Rishi Sunak in 2022.
Swinney said: “The Conservatives obviously don’t like hearing that Mr Findlay was a supporter of Liz Truss, whose economic and fiscal policies have undermined the public finances of Scotland. That is the reality that I am going to point out. If Mr Findlay wants a lesson in reality, I will tell him I will not follow the discredited and failed policies of the Conservative Party.”
Findlay had lavished praise on the “authentic” right-wing Conservative in a gushing Twitter video at the time and said: “In Liz we trust”.
In office, Truss nearly crashed the British economy and resigned as PM after 49 days. Her Government’s disastrous mini-budget, which would have given tax cuts to the rich, is judged to have sent inflation and interest rates spiralling.
During the Scottish Tory leadership contest, Findlay ate humble pie as he backtracked on his support for Truss: “We all get things wrong. I got that wrong. Our number one job as Conservatives is to look after the country’s finances, to be responsible, and she didn’t do that.”
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