A former Tory chairman has called for ex-Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown to lead the drive to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom.
Peter Duncan warned the impression the Prime Minister David Cameron or his deputy Nick Clegg are in charge would be ”dangerous” and could help nationalists win the independence referendum.
Instead, he called on unionists to unite ”quickly” behind Mr Brown, the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP, as the campaign figurehead.
He said unionists must never mention ”freedom” if they want to stop Alex Salmond winning the crunch constitutional vote.
Mr Duncan, who served as chairman of the Tory Party north of the border and as shadow Scottish Secretary, warned the SNP is ”a world-class campaigning machine” which could win the independence vote.
Publishing his list of dos and don’ts for Tory campaigners, he warned: ”The message that David Cameron or Ed Miliband or Nick Clegg are in charge is wrong and dangerous. Every time an English MP appears as a face of the no campaign, it plays into Salmond’s hands.
”Don’t let the arguments originate in Westminster. We’ve been doing this for decades, and look where we are now. It’s the unionist strategy Alex Salmond would have written himself.”
Mr Duncan acknowledged that Mr Salmond ”and the rest of his 68 MSPs have the right to hold the referendum they want to hold at the time they want to hold it.”
But he added: ”’Independence’ is a positive word and it’s their word. Our word is ‘separation’. We cannot and must not allow the debate to be framed in Alex Salmond’s terms.
”For him, and for too many others like him, ‘independence’ and ‘freedom’ are likable concepts and often used interchangeably. We should avoid them.”
He also warned that English Conservatives could drive Scottish voters out of the UK.
He said: ”I’ve always said the bigger threat to the union was English not Scottish nationalism. Plenty of Tory backbenchers will be battling for reselection on new boundaries, whilst nurturing growing grudges at a lack of ministerial office opportunities.
”SNP copywriters are desperate for easy quotes from English Conservative MPs who fancy having a little-England snipe at Scotland.”
Calling for urgent moves to get the No campaign under way, he said: ”The campaign figurehead needs to be a Labour one. I wouldn’t rule out Gordon Brown, who remains bizarrely popular in Scotland despite the damage he has done.”
And in a move that further isolated him from official party thinking, he suggested letting voters have the option of extra powers for Holyrood to help see off the independence vote.
He said: ”Don’t talk Scotland down by suggesting that Scotland needs England. Don’t say that Scotland couldn’t make its own way in the world. It could the question to be answered is whether it should.”
Angus South MSP Graeme Dey said the advice would make ”uncomfortable reading” for Tories.
”This is a devastating critique of the Conservatives’ current policy toward Scotland and their inability to present a coherent campaign against independence,” said the SNP MSP.
The development came as it emerged Mr Salmond is likely to meet Scottish Secretary Michael Moore on Thursday or Friday of next week to discuss the referendum.
He has also written to Mr Cameron to suggest they meet in Scotland as soon as possible afterwards.