Midway through the conference season, Brian Taylor explains why parties of the Union want to fight the next Holyrood election on Scottish issues.

Did you catch that telly interview with Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, in which she was asked to name the next First Minister of Scotland?

It was, she replied, “all to play for.” Strictly accurate, I suppose, in that not a seat has been determined, not a vote has been cast.

But how many of you think the next incumbent of Bute House will be Russell Findlay, the eager ex-journalist who leads the Tories at Holyrood? OK, hands down.

Certainly, the Prime Minister does not expect a Caledonian Tory surge. During his Liverpool conference speech, he deployed the droll wit for which he is now legendary as he quipped: “The Tories. Remember them?”

The snag for Ms Badenoch and Mr Findlay is that folk remember them all too well. Johnson, Truss, Sunak. They remember and they recoil.

Which is why the collective demeanour of the Conservative group at Holyrood is borrowed from Kierkegaard. Fear and trembling.

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Still, Mr Findlay is seemingly undaunted. He plans to place the economy front and centre in his conference speech this weekend. Condemning the SNP for tax policies which he says have throttled the prospect of growth.

Yes, he will have more than a word to say about the UK Labour Government, suggesting........

© Herald Scotland