Jamie Greene MSP joins the Lib Dems after quitting Tories over "Reform-lite agenda"

I wrote a short post about Jamie Greene leaving the Tories and then went shopping. As soon as I did, he joined the Lib Dems and it was announced at the Scottish party's conference. So I have rewritten the post and given it a joyous new headline.

Jamie Greene, the West Scotland region MSP who resigned from the Conservative group at Holyrood yesterday over its "Reform-lite agenda" and "Trumpesque narrative", has joined the Liberal Democrats.

His move was announced at the Scottish Lib Dems' conference in Inverness this afternoon.

The STV News report on Greene's resignation from the Tories  says he warned that the party is "deserting the middle ground" in an effort to "chase the votes of Reform Party supporters" and "fringe right-wing" Scottish voters:

"The party now rests its hopes on a Reform-lite agenda that appeals to the worst of our society, and not the best. ...

"I cannot be part of a narrative which has become Trumpesque in both style and substance."

"Instead of proudly leading on equality, we now run the very serious and immediate risk of becoming once again the party of social division and morality wars."

Greene has been a West Scotland region MSP since 2016. His resignation is confirmation that the liberal approach that brought the Scottish Tories some success under Ruth Davidson is no more.

The danger for the Tories now is that the far-right voters they are chasing will still prefer Reform, while disenchanted liberal Tories will look elsewhere. In Greene's case, to the Liberal Democrats.