Scottish Conservative Party leadership election, 2011
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The 2011 Scottish Conservative Party leadership election was an internal party election to elect a new leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, the third largest political party in the devolved Scottish Parliament. Ruth Davidson was declared the winner of the contest on 4 November 2011, succeeding former leader Annabel Goldie. The election was triggered when incumbent party leader Annabel Goldie announced her resignation on 9 May 2011, following her party's self-described 'disappointing' result in the 2011 Scottish Parliament Election, in which the Conservatives were reduced from 17 seats to 15.
However, a commission headed by Lord Sanderson in 2010 had outlined the need for a leadership election directly after the 2011 elections and had been highly critical of the party's current leadership and conduct. Four candidates stood in the contest, all of whom were MSPs: Ruth Davidson, Murdo Fraser, Jackson Carlaw and Margaret Mitchell. The contest sparked intense debate within the party, with Murdo Fraser standing on a platform of disbanding the Scottish Conservatives in favour of establishing a wholly new, centre-right Scottish party, which would be autonomous but allied to the Conservative Party in England and Wales. This idea was rejected by his three opponents, however had support from over half of the MSP group. After a ballot using the Single transferable vote method to the party's 8,500 Scottish members, Ruth Davidson defeated Fraser by a margin of 566 votes.
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