RUTH Davidson has said she will not be the “next” leader of the UK Conservative Party, suggesting she intends to sidestep the potentially vicious fight to replace Theresa May.
The Scottish Tory leader said she would not replace the Prime Minister directly, but left the door open to leading the party in the future.
With a beleaguered Mrs May facing growing calls to name a departure date from Downing Street, Ms Davidson is again being tipped as a possible successor.
However in an interview with the March issue of Vogue, the Edinburgh Central MSP rules out an early leadership bid, and says her focus remains the 2021 Holyrood election.
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson expects Brexit to be softer than many people fear but says the process will take years
She said: “I am not going to be replacing Theresa May. I’ve got a job to do in Scotland. I wouldn’t leave it to go and do another job. That’s not the way this is going to work.
“I am not the next leader of the Tory party.”
But the careful form of words does not preclude becoming the leader after that.
Besides lacking a Westminster seat, Ms Davidson is currently untested in government.
Her lack of ministerial experience would make it extremely hard to leapfrog more seasoned colleagues to become Prime Minister if Mrs May’s quits or is forced out.
But a longer-term approach could have better prospects.
Ms Davidson has become less coy recently about her ambitions to lead the UK Tories, saying last month that she was merely focused on Holyrood “up until 2021”.
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson expects Brexit to be softer than many people fear but says the process will take years
In her Vogue interview, she also said this year’s planned visit by Donald Trump was a “bad idea”, although protests against the US President could be an upside.
Ms Davidson said: “Oh, I think it’s a bad idea. But maybe it’s one of those ones where actually you see the absolute best of the UK.
“‘Because of the position you hold, not the man that you are, you can come here – but by God, because we’re free citizens we’re going to stand in the street and tell you what we think of you.’
“I’m not encouraging people to, but I would be surprised if they didn’t.”
Ms Davidson said she feared the world was heading into a post-Brexit “culture war”, in which closed nationalism and open internationalism replaced old ideologies of left and right.
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson expects Brexit to be softer than many people fear but says the process will take years
She said: “My worry is that we’re about to head into a culture war around the world where it’s not a question of left versus right any more – it’s a question of open versus closed."
"We’ve spent a long time believing there was a consensus about the idea of freedom and interaction and breaking down borders, and then suddenly they’re all being built back up again.
“That’s what I think the fight is going to be about, and I’m damn sure going to take part in it.”
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