An MSP who yesterday quit the Scottish Tories was facing the threat of deselection for his ‘woke’ views - and has now been urged to stand down from Holyrood.
Jamie Greene announced he was resigning the Scottish Conservative whip and will become an independent after claiming the party he joined ‘no longer exists’.
But the chairman of his local branch revealed he had been unlikely to be selected as candidate again for next year’s elections amid anger about him being ‘disconnected’ from grassroots members and using his position to pursue a ‘liberal woke agenda’.
Mr Greene was urged to stand down as an MSP because he only earned his place at Holyrood on the Scottish Tory regional list for west Scotland.
David Rocks, chairman of the North Ayrshire and Arran Conservative and Unionist Association, said: ‘He has been very disconnected from the party locally here in North Ayrshire. He doesn’t really communicate with myself as chairman, the councillors or the members. If he had tried to stand here again he wouldn’t have been selected.
‘If Jamie had spent more time with members and councillors here campaigning, attending events and meetings, he would have a better understanding of what people think locally, particularly the Tory members and voters here. I think he’s very out of touch because he’s not been involved with the grassroots core.
‘Jamie’s view is very narrow-minded, and there’s a bit of self-interest, really. He has got this kind of liberal, woke personal agenda and if he spent more time going round speaking to party members he would sense the mood more than what he perceives it to be.’
He cited Mr Greene’s support of the SNP’s gender reforms as an example of where he was ‘disconnected with party members’.
Jamie Greene has quit the Scottish Conservatives, but party activists say he was likely to be deselected due to his woke views
Scottish Tory local branches are in the process of selecting candidates for constituencies, with those selected then ranked on regional lists for next year’s elections.
Mr Rocks claimed that ‘it would have been difficult for him to find a seat’ to allow him to be on the regional list again.
He also said it is ‘a bit rich’ for Mr Greene to go from a list MSP to an independent one adding: ‘I think if he had any principles he would step aside and let the next person on the list get in. The Conservative Party voted for three list MSPs in the west, and that’s what we should have.’
Following his decision to quit the party, he is now expected to be moved out of his current office in the Tory corridor of the MSP block and relocated to another office.
He is also set to come under pressure from colleagues to stand down from Holyrood and allow the next candidate on the Tory regional list for south of Scotland to take his place, which would mean Borders councillor Julie Pirone being offered the opportunity to become an MSP.
A senior Tory source said resigning as an MSP would be ‘the decent thing to do’, and added: ‘He got elected because of the party so why not stand aside for someone else who will represent local constituents?
‘Ultimately, because of the rules at Holyrood, it is up to conscience. Does he really have the gall to stay as MSP on a regional list when he’s not in the party?’
In his resignation letter, Mr Greene said that ‘the Scottish Conservative Party which I joined simply no longer exists’, saying it used to have ‘a socially liberal view of the world’.
He claimed the party ‘now rests its hopes on a Reform-lite agenda that appeals to the worst of our society’, adding : ‘I do not believe that I have left the Conservative party. I believe the party has left me.’
He said those advising current leader Russell Findlay will lead the party to ‘a collapse in support for decent centre-right politics in Scotland’, and added: ‘I cannot be part of a narrative which has become Trump-esque in both style and substance.’
He also said that elections are won in the centre ground and ‘not on the right-wing fringes in a grotesque dance with Nigel Farage’.
Following his comments, some Tory sources raised speculation that he might defect to the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Findlay said: ‘I promised change and I keep my promises, so I will keep standing up for the common-sense values of mainstream Scotland and opposing the damage caused by Holyrood’s left-wing consensus.
‘I’ll continue taking a strong stance against the SNP on tax, gender self-identification, and the damage they’ve done to Scotland’s schools.
‘Others may believe it’s best to let the SNP have their way. I will always oppose their dangerous agenda and put forward a proud conservative vision of a different Scotland.’