Election 2024: Kirkcaldy Tory candidate on challenge of holding party’s 20% vote share

But the party has a core vote across Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy. In fact in 2019, it commanded 20% of the poll with Kathleen Leslie, now a councillor, netting just shy of 9500. To put that figure into context, it was more than the Lib Dems, Greens and Brexit candidates managed together.

If, as polls suggest, the Tories are on course for an electoral wipe out, where those votes land could be a factor in deciding who gets the Westminster ticket. One poll gave Mr Gray, a first time candidate, a 1% chance of winning the seat.

“We have to be realistic about my chances of winning,” he said, “but we are running a good campaign about the issues that people are concerned about.”

The former military man - he retired from the army in 2005 after commanding The 1st Battalion, The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in action during the Iraq War - turned businessman can only watch from afar as the Conservative’s UK campaign continues to be dogged by criticism, but he insists: “All campaigns are tough, and all parties make mistakes. Up here it is a different party and a different beast.”

In common with a number of candidates, Mr Gray is wrapping campaigning around work commitments, with the week of the election pencilled off for one final push for votes. As a schoolboy he distributed leaflets in Malcolm Rifkind’s Edinburgh Pentland constituency, and his return to the UK from the USA in 2019 took him back to the party.

“I joined the army which ruled out political activity, but I had always had a fascination for elections. We came back to Scotland, and I was pretty depressed with what had happened with division and acrimony in society. My wife said do something about it, went to Tory Central office for first time since 1979 and toom part in the selection process.”

Admitting it was was “now or never” to get into politics, Mr Gray has been out and about in the constituency, with a visit to Burntisland Summer Show this weekend, and meeting with the party’s councillors to get a feel for the issues.

“All politics is local,” he said. “What people are bothered about is NHS waiting times for appointments with GPs, for surgery times, and the decline in education standards. One unintended consequence of the SNP’s free bus travel has given young people a pass, and they are rammying around late at night. People wanting to travel home are facing anti social issues.

“Enough is enough, we have to change things. What Westminster can improve is the economy. What depresses me is this election has all been about more tax and more borrowing or cuts. That is a false choice.

“We have a plan and it is working. The economy is growing and inflation is coming down. I feel we have got the blame for two major events - a global pandemic, and war in the Ukraine. We have maxed out the credit card to support furlough, made loans to small businesses, and helped people with energy bills. The only party people can vote for to grow the economy is the Conservatives.”.

He also wants to bring business acumen to the House of Commons: “Very few politicians have experience of business- I have been in business for 20 years and understand how and where it will invest.”