Reform MSP Simpson is ‘bit of a snowflake’, says Scottish Tory leader Findlay

Tory leader Russell Findlay has branded Scotland’s only Reform MSP a “bit of a snowflake” after he complained a former colleague would no longer look at him after he quit the Conservatives for Nigel Farage’s party.

Mr Findlay said he could “completely understand” why one of his MSPs would “not want to engage with someone who has committed such an act of treachery”.

His comments came after Graham Simpson, who defected to Reform UK in August, said while he had maintained good working relationships with most of Tory MSPs, there was one who is “not even looking at me, let alone talking to me”.

In response to that Mr Findlay said his former MSP was “clearly is a bit of a Reform snowflake”.

Speaking about Mr Simpson, the Scottish Tory leader added: “This is the same politician who looked his colleagues in the eye and told them that he wasn’t going to defect, and then duly did so.

“So, perhaps, I can completely understand why colleagues wouldn’t want to engage with someone who has committed such an act of treachery.”

Mr Findlay’s comments came after Central Scotland MSP Mr Simpson said: “There’s a difference between slagging off Reform, which you’d expect to happen in the run-up to a Scottish Parliament election, and slagging off the individual.”

The Reform MSP told Holyrood magazine he had been “very clear” that he would “not indulge in that kind of behaviour”.

Mr Simpson insisted: “I’m not going to get down and dirty and start attacking individuals for their character or personality, when it should be a debate about policy.”

He defected from the Conservatives to Reform in August, saying the he decided to join Reform UK to “create something new, exciting and lasting”.

He has been tasked with creating Reform’s manifesto for the Holyrood election next year, describing this as a “massive job” as he said not much thought had been given to devolved policy areas.

“We are going to have to produce something that’s not just immigration and net zero,” he added.

According to a recent poll carried out by Survation for the IPPR Scotland think tank, Mr Farage’s party could return 22 MSPs, becoming the second-largest group in Holyrood.

On how many he would like to see returned to parliament, Mr Simpson said “over 20”.

He continued: “It might sound ambitious, but you may as well be ambitious… at the moment, I would say around the 20-mark would be good, over that would be very good.”