Outgoing Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has sensationally lost to the SNP in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, ending his bid to return to Westminster.
It is a humiliating defeat for Mr Ross, who stood in place of a sick colleague at the last minute in the general election.
He had already pledged to stand down as leader of the Scottish Tories after the election.
The SNP’s Seamus Logan won the newly-redrawn constituency with 13,455 votes, pushing Mr Ross into second place on 12,513 votes.
Nigel Farage’s Reform party may have helped sink Mr Ross’s hopes. Candidate Jo Hart won 5,562, targeting disillusioned Tories in the region.
Speaking after the result, Mr Ross said the “huge Reform vote” had allowed the SNP to “win the seat by the back door”.
Asked if he regretted making the decision to stand down as leader of the Scottish Tories, he said: “I don’t regret going for the seat. I had a very short time to consider what to do when that vacancy arose 36 hours before the close of nominations.
“I put my name forward. I knew the risks. I knew this was not a seat that was in anyway guaranteed. I knew that turn-out was going to be lower.
“And I knew there was a risk with a Reform campaign here but I highlighted that risk for the last four weeks.”
‘We were very optimistic’
Mr Logan, reflecting on his dramatic victory, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled but not from a personal point of view, just that the good people of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East believe that I’m the best person to represent them.
“And I intend to deliver on the promises I made to them during the election campaign.”
He added: “We were very optimistic as the night progressed. I would never say confident. Our tellers told us we were doing well.
“When we were going through the second stage we got a bit nervous because things narrowed a bit but I guess across the whole piece we thought we were going to do it and we did.”
David Duguid dropped while in hospital
Former Tory MP David Duguid won the former Banff and Buchan seat in 2019, with a majority of more than 4,000 votes over the SNP.
This included many of the same coastal towns, including Peterhead and Fraserburgh, which now fall within Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.
But the party controversially dropped him as a candidate last month after a spinal illness left him hospitalised – where he is continuing his recovery.
This led Mr Ross to put himself forward to stand as the new candidate – just two days before the deadline closed, and dividing his party.
The dramatic events led the SNP to make the constituency one of its top targets in its general election campaign, in a bid to defeat the Scottish Tory chief.
The seat had previously been looking like it could be more of a comfortable win for Mr Duguid, who was popular across the region.
In a social media post shared on Wednesday, Mr Duguid said he “had a plan” to run his campaign remotely while he recovered in hospital in Glasgow.
“I’d be lying if I said the events of the last few weeks haven’t taken their toll on myself and my family”, he wrote.
“But no matter what the future may hold I remain as determined as ever to continue my recovery and rehabilitation.”
Mr Ross is still a regional MSP for the Highlands and Islands, but now faces the prospect of heading to the backbenches at a difficult time for his party across the UK.
Aberdeenshire North and Moray East voting breakdown
Seamus Logan (SNP) 13,455
Douglas Ross (Con) 12,513
Ian Bailey (Lib) 2,783
Andy Brown (Lab) 3,876
Jo Hart (Reform) 5,562
Read more as election results come in across the north and north-east:
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