RUSSELL Findlay is under increasing pressure to speak out as The National can reveal that a THIRD ex-Scottish Tory spin doctor was given taxpayer cash by the party.
The SNP have described it as a “jobs for the boys scandal”.
We previously reported on how the Scottish Tories shelled out more than £150,000 of taxpayer money on media training — all of which went to firms run by two of the party’s former spin doctors.
An analysis of the Scottish Parliament’s expenses register showed that Gen Comms Limited, which is run by former Tory director of media Ramsay Jones, raked in £118,200 from training the 31 Scottish Tory MSPs, including both “individual” and “group” broadcast training.
Meanwhile Shorthand PR, run by the Scottish Tories’ former head of media Adam Morris, pocketed £26,000.
This funding was raised through contributions from Scottish Tory MSPs' support budgets, which are given to every MSP to help them carry out their official duties.
Meanwhile, Scottish Tory MSP Edward Mountain also paid Shorthand PR a separate total of £10,500 in three separate payments spanning January to March 2024 for “consultancy fees for communications”.
But now, it has been revealed that – in between 2022 and 2023 – Scottish Tory MP John Lamont also paid Peach Partners Ltd over £40k for social media support and writing press releases, according to Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) data.
The company was run by senior Scottish Tory adviser David Bateman when he was in between jobs with the Conservatives.
Prior to setting up the company, Bateman had led the Scottish Tories' media team – bringing the total of ex-Scottish Tory spin doctors who have been given public cash by the party to three.
Collectively, they have been in receipt of nearly £200k of taxpayer cash since 2022.
“This is embarrassing for Russell Findlay, who has spent the last year calling for cuts in public spending, whilst his own party has been handing significant sums of public money to former colleagues," SNP MSP George Adam told The National.
In February this year, Findlay pledged to set up his own version of Elon Musk's powerful cost-cutting US government department – Doge, or the Department for Government Efficiency.
The Scottish Conservative leader said the Scottish version of Doge would be tasked with “cutting waste, identifying savings and delivering better value for taxpayers”.
Adam added: “Findlay now has serious questions to answer about the process involved in selecting companies to carry out this work and what measures were taken to ensure best value for money for the taxpayer.
“Failure to provide answers will allow there to be a perception that the Tories are happy to pass public money to their cronies.”
The Scottish Tories have been approached for comment.
