Russell Findlay has been appointed at the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
He spent almost 30 years as a crime reporter at the Sunday Mail and Scottish Sun, as well as STV and BBC, specialising in investigative journalism.
His journey into politics was only relatively recent, having joined the Scottish Conservatives as Director of Communications in 2020.
He became Scottish Conservative MSP for West Scotland in 2021 and was the party’s justice spokesperson.
Today, he was elected leader receiving 2565 votes from a total of 4155 members – a 60% turnout.
He called for the party to come together as “one united team.”
“Let us start the hard work right now to win back public trust,” he stated.
“I want to deliver the message to people across Scotland who do not feel that anyone represents them, who are scunnered by the divisiveness and fringe obsessions of the Scottish Parliament, who feel let down and failed by politicians of every single party, including ours, who think politicians are all the same. I feel that way – I get it, but I’m not the same.”
His work as a journalist certainly underlines that last point, having worked on the scale and reach of organised crime in Scotland and problems within the justice system.
In 2008 he co-authored a book about a Scottish drug dealer and went on to write 3 other non-fiction titles.
He was targeted in an acid attack on the doorstep of his own home in 2015 and wrote a book about the experience.
