Fife Tory leader's answer after being asked to stand in election

Furious Fife Council Conservative group leader Kathleen Leslie has laid the blame for a “disastrous” general election result squarely with Rishi Sunak.

Speaking exclusively to The Courier, she revealed she could not stand to represent her party on the Westminster ballot, despite doing so in 2019.

Asked why, she said simply: “Rishi Sunak.”

It’s another sign of the simmering anger at the way the party appears to have been thrown to the wolves in a snap election that wiped them from swathes of the UK, and humiliated Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.

Rishi Sunak ‘unforgivable’

Ms Leslie said the results were inevitable.

“This was always going to happen,” she said.

“He sprung the election not only on the public but on the Conservative party.

“To my mind, what he has done is unforgivable. He has damaged the Conservative party and it will take it years to come back from.”

Ms Leslie said she was fearful the remaining Conservative MPs would “join forces” with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, “dragging the party to right” which she said would make it “unelectable”.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his own election count. Image: Darren Staples/PA Wire

She said: “We’ve had a prime minister utterly out of touch with reality. Whatever you think of Boris, he had a mandate from the party and a mandate from the country.”

Asked whether her party deserved the results, Ms Leslie said: “I don’t think a lot of MPs deserve what happened. Candidates don’t deserve this and members don’t deserve this.

‘Things are not getting better’

“But it goes back to, if you’re not listening, that feeds into a wider narrative and Rishi Sunak comes on TV talking about the cost of living crisis and saying things are getting better.

“Well I’m sorry, but things are not getting better. I am feeling that myself. He has no understanding of that.”

Outgoing Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross lost his own bid for a seat in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

Speaking to the BBC, he blamed Reform for his defeat, but said: “It’s been a difficult, difficult night for the entire Conservative Party.”

He added: “I accept my own share of responsibility, both locally and nationally, I’m never going to walk away from that.”

Mr Sunak said: “The British people have delivered a sobering verdict, there is much to learn…and I take responsibility for the loss.”

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