Ruth Davidson is right, the Tories have an opportunity to outsmart Reform UK - if they have the courage to take it, says Herald columnist Rebecca McQuillan

Ruth Davidson in her post-Holyrood life has acquired a sort of mystique: the Tory leader who was popular in Scotland. That makes her a precious artefact within her party. Davidson led the Scottish Tories into second place at the 2016 Scottish election, leapfrogging Labour.

It’s fairly straightforward how she did it really – she benefited from Labour’s troubles under Jeremy Corbyn, built her campaign on one relentless anti-independence message and even then came a distant second to the SNP – but she’s achieved a sort of haloed status really because she laid to rest the existential terror that had haunted the Scottish Conservatives since their wipe out in 1997. She did it with a blend of no-nonsense humour, forthright optimism and charm. She forced Scotland’s media and political establishment to take the Scottish Tories seriously again, then wisely left before having to repeat the trick.

The not-entirely-accurate impression we’ve been left with is of a tank-driving, bull-whispering winner. Like Alan Carr since he won Celebrity Traitors, there is genuine fascination around her unlikely achievement, but unlike with Carr – “we didn’t know what we was doing!” – Davidson has no time for self-deprecation.

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Along with former West Midlands mayor Andy Street, yesterday she launched her own “movement” to influence the Conservative leadership because she thinks she knows exactly what the Tories need to do next. She believes they should tack back to the centre ground, away from Reform. She is........

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