A former MI6 spy appointed as Scottish Tory chairman yesterday insisted the party could recover from two decades of "fallow" results at the next General Election.
Andrew Fulton, who has spent more than 30 years in senior positions in the secret service, claimed the Conservatives had an opportunity to catch the SNP on the hop at Westminster and exploit the current disarray of Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
After his appointment was announced yesterday, he said: "It's very exciting to be taking over. We are within two years, at the most, of a UK General Election. Annabel Goldie has made an excellent start in the Scottish Parliament and she has done that issue by issue, making the Conservatives once again count in Scotland. Looking on to the UK level, I'm a great believer in David Cameron's message, I think he's got a great story to tell.
"After 20 years of fallow results, I hope with the SNP not concentrating on Westminster, Labour in disarray and the LibDems struggling a bit, we have a great opportunity to increase the number of Conservative MPs."
His post has been dogged by controversy and cross-border tension for the past year since David Mundell, Scotland's only Tory MP, lambasted the abilities of the previous incumbent, Peter Duncan, in an internal party memo. The appointment of the chairman is ultimately sanctioned by the UK leader, but Mr Fulton said this had been with the "consent and approval" of the executive of the Scottish Conservatives.
The former agent, who was born in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, also brings his own baggage to the post: his unmasking as an MI6 operative led to him stepping down in 2000 as an adviser to Glasgow University's briefing unit which advised the media about the Lockerbie bombing trial amid speculation - which he strongly denied - that he had a competing agenda.
Last year he became the first acknowledged former spy to join a listed British company when he was appointed as an adviser to the Armor Group, which provides security services to national governments.
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