{"id":678757,"date":"2026-01-07T00:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T00:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/678757\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T00:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T00:10:13","slug":"russell-findlays-top-adviser-quits-4-months-before-holyrood-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/678757\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Findlay’s top adviser quits 4 months before Holyrood election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Herald reports<\/a> that David Bateman has resigned to pursue “new opportunities” and that it was the “right time” for him to “move on”.\n<\/p>\n

\n Bateman, who was previously head of media for the party, has been a senior adviser to the Scottish Tories<\/a> since September 2024.\n<\/p>\n

\n It comes after a raft of Scottish Tory politicians, including councillors, an MSP and a member of the House of Lords<\/a>, have jumped ship and defected to Nigel Farage<\/a>‘s Reform UK.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Ash Regan banned from Scottish Parliament for 2 days<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Reform have been repeatedly predicted to cut into the Scottish Tory vote at the election in May.\n<\/p>\n

\n Bateman said in a statement: \u201cI have decided it is the right time for me to move on.\n<\/p>\n

\n “I look forward to taking on new challenges and pursuing new opportunities. I wish Russell and the party well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Magnus Gardham, who has previously served as special adviser to Tory Scottish secretaries Alister Jack and David Mundell, is set to replace Bateman in the role.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"GardhamGardham is a former adviser to Alister Jack, who is now a member of the Lords (Image: House of Lords)\n<\/p>\n

\n Gardham was previously the former political editor of The Herald and Daily Record.\n<\/p>\n

\n He said: \u201cI\u2019m excited to be joining Russell and the Scottish Conservatives<\/a> ahead of what is a crucial election in May.\n<\/p>\n

\n “I look forward to getting down to work.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Findlay added: \u201cI\u2019m delighted to welcome Magnus to my team. He is a highly experienced and respected figure who will play a key role in the run-up to the election.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019d also like to thank David for his service and wish him all the best for the future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n It comes after Findlay launched his party’s Holyrood<\/a> 2026 election campaign by stating that Scotland’s unofficial national anthem \u2013 Flower of Scotland \u2013 is \u201cmaximum Scottish cringe\u201d and should be replaced.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Douglas Ross demands leak inquiry amid Justice Secretary code breach<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Findlay also said recently that it had never been more important to be a Unionist.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn terms of the Unionist part, we are the only wholly convincing party of the Union,” he claimed.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cTaking Reform UK, they purport to be a pro-union party, but I don\u2019t think Nigel Farage could care less about the union \u2013 Nigel Farage cares about Nigel Farage.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe fielded pro-independence candidates in the general election.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Herald reports that David Bateman has resigned to pursue “new opportunities” and that it was the “right…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-678757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115850918161405256","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}