‘I had to follow my heart after death of colleague’ – Jamie Greene

An emotional Jamie Greene said the death of a parliamentary colleague and the speeches of condolence for her triggered his decision to “follow my heart” and finally leave the Conservatives.

Speaking just after being theatrically unveiled at the party conference in Inverness, Mr Greene said he had “probably always been a Liberal Democrat and just didn’t know it”.

He also responded to the accusation he had simply been too focussed on “woke issues” for the Conservatives, saying he would wear the phrase as a badge “with pride” if it meant standing up for equalities.

Meanwhile, Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said he will be pushing for his party to have more parliamentary time now their Holyrood group has grown to five MSPs.

Mr Greene spoke to the PA news agency shortly after appearing on stage with Mr Cole-Hamilton and UK Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, where his political conversion was greeted with rapturous applause.

Party officials had kept him out of sight of the gathered supporters until the last moment.

He said his decision to quit the Tories had come “very, very recently” but had been “a long time coming”.

I realised that life's short and you've got to follow your heart. And I woke up the next morning and I followed my heart

He said: “There comes a trigger point of no return where you realise you just can’t do it any more. That point came to me on Wednesday and I decided to resign on Thursday morning.”

On Wednesday, Holyrood held a special motion of condolence session for the SNP’s Christina McKelvie, where MSPs from across parties paid heartfelt tributes to the former minister.

Taking pauses to collect himself, continued: “I spoke at her motion of condolence and I found it very difficult actually.

“I went home that night, having done that, this is quite hard…

“And I realised that life’s short and you’ve got to follow your heart. And I woke up the next morning and I followed my heart.”

I've probably always been a Liberal Democrat and just didn't know it

He said the sense of unity in the chamber this week – with MSPs being “that little bit kinder to each other” – led to him feeling he could not be part of a divisive party any more.

In his resignation letter, he said the Tory party he joined “no longer exists” – saying it has moved too far to the right to combat the growth of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Asked why he joined Mr Cole-Hamilton’s party, he said “I’ve probably always been a Liberal Democrat and just didn’t know it”.

He said the Tories had experienced “a gradual decline to becoming much more insular, much more inward looking”.

Mr Greene, who was first elected in 2016, said he had “unfinished business” at Holyrood but any decision about running in the 2026 election would be a matter for the Lib Dems.

He said he would work with other MSPs across parties on legislation during the remainder of the current parliamentary session, including his amendments to the Victims Bill.

The West Scotland MSP was asked about comments from a local Conservative association official – who suggested Mr Greene was too focussed on “woke issues”.

The new Lib Dem said: “What does woke mean? If woke means I treat people with respect, I treat people with decency and I believe in equalities, then I’ll wear a big woke badge.”

Mr Cole-Hamilton said he had been friends with Mr Greene for a number of years and had suggested he change parties more than a year ago, saying he had shown “colossal bravery” by doing so.

He said it is largely up to Holyrood’s Presiding Officer to decide what privileges are afforded to party groups.

The fact that the Lib Dem group has until now only consisted of four MSPs means they have not had regular questions at First Minister’s Questions.

He said: “I would hope and expect that parliamentary authorities, including the Presiding Officer, would recognise that now we have attained that critical number of five we should get a seat on the (corporate) bureau.

“We should get opening and closing speeches, we should get more regular FMQs.”

Speaking on stage in Inverness earlier, Mr Greene told Lib Dem party supporters: “It really feels like a breath of fresh air to be in this room with you today.”

He used his speech to reach out to the “compassionate, centre right and decent Tories”, saying many of them had contacted him after he announced he was leaving the Tories.

Mr Greene said: “Like me, they were simply scunnered, they were scunnered with endless culture wars and the fringe issues that my former party has become obsessed with.”

The defection means the Lib Dems now have five MSPs in their Holyrood group, while the Tories have 30.

Mr Greene has been outspoken in his support for LGBT+ rights and backed the SNP’s gender recognition reforms to vote for the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill at Holyrood.

He launched a bid to be Scottish Tory leader after Douglas Ross stepped down last year, but later went on to back fellow MSP Murdo Fraser’s unsuccessful leadership campaign.