SNP has created ‘hostile’ environment towards media scrutiny, Russell Findlay says

The SNP has helped to create a hostile atmosphere towards journalists in Scotland, Russell Findlay has claimed.

The Scottish Tory leader, speaking exclusively to Holyrood, said former first ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon were “particularly hostile” in an effort to avoid scrutiny.

And he said Sturgeon had been “inappropriate” and “disturbing” when responding to press questions at her daily Covid-19 briefings.

Findlay became the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives at the end of September, seeing off his rivals Murdo Fraser and Meghan Gallacher.

A former journalist, he was elected as an MSP in 2021 and served on the party’s frontbench as justice spokesperson.

In his first major interview, Findlay said the SNP has “reached the same levels of entitlement” as the Labour administration had in the noughties, and is “taking the public for granted, looking after their cronies and trying to shut down scrutiny”.

And on the party’s attitude towards the press, he said: “I think from Alex Salmond through to Nicola Sturgeon and continuing, there has been this fairly unpleasant hostility towards journalism and journalists and any scrutiny.

“And I know that journalism is not a popularity contest, and I’ve come across some bad faith media stuff in the short time I’ve been doing this, but I know better than to complain about it. I think that they [Salmond and Sturgeon] were particularly hostile.

“I mean, even taking some of Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid briefings, which were little more than political grandstanding half the time and seeking to build her brand while differentiating from the rest of the UK for no discernible benefit to the people of Scotland, that was often laced with a kind of arch antagonism towards particular journalists that I found to be quite inappropriate and quite disturbing. It’s about shutting journalists down, stopping scrutiny, and that is fundamentally wrong.”

In a wide-ranging interview, in which he also spoke about his life before politics, he admitted that he felt sorry for some of his leadership predecessors for having to “spend a lot of their time defending” the actions of the Conservative UK Government.

He added he felt “quite blessed” to start afresh following the general election defeat, because it meant there would be less comparison between the Scottish party and “unpopular or ill-judged” decisions being taken south of the border.

He said: “We are seeing, of course, Anas Sarwar suddenly looking like a startled rabbit because suddenly he’s realising that sitting in the Holyrood chamber, with the sense of entitlement that natural order will soon be restored, is not necessarily as clean cut as all that, given the activities of Sir Keir Starmer’s government.”

Findlay also claimed the Conservatives was the “anti-establishment party” in Scotland.

But when talking about the Scottish Tories prospects at the 2026 Holyrood election, he admitted it was probably unlikely his party would gain seats. He said: “We’ve got 31 MSPs who I’m confident will want to put their shoulders to the wheel for 2026. I would love to grow that number, but the polling being what it is, for me to say, Jo Swinson-style, that I’m going to be first minister, you would just laugh at me.

“But who’s to say that Scotland couldn’t actually one day have a Conservative first minister or government, or some form of government that includes us?”

Responding to Findlay's comments, a spokesperson for Sturgeon said: “Throughout the pandemic, whilst the Tory politicians acted unlawfully by partying during lockdown, Nicola displayed competence and compassion as she spoke directly to the public every day to provide important information – a responsibility she took incredibly seriously.”