The National:

RUTH Davidson may be going to embarrassing lengths to avoid any media scrutiny of her party, but that hasn't stopped her from winning the admiration of Scottish Labour councillors.

In fact, she took to Twitter to boast about how a study showed that they backed her as a more effective leader than Richard Leonard or Jeremy Corbyn.

Quite a low bar, admittedly, but given the scandals engulfing the Scottish Tories, that Labour's councillors would rate her so highly really is telling.

Davidson tweeted: "This is very kind. (And if any @scottishlabour councillors want to cross the floor....)"

And who said Unionists were all alike?

The findings were part of the New Statesman's Spotlight survey, which asked every councillor in Scotland for their views on Scottish politics.

The results on the above section of the poll weren't even tight.

Of the Labour, 71% felt Ruth Davidson was doing a "good" or "very good" job as the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

The equivalent figure for Richard Leonard as leader of Scottish Labour was 65%, and for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader it was 52%.

These Labour councillors think Davidson is doing "very well" despite her party being 20% behind the SNP in the most recent Holyrood opinion poll.

Admittedly, Scottish Labour were even further behind – trailing by 23%.

And it's worth noting here that only 30% of the SNP councillors polled felt Davidson was doing a "good" or "very good" job.

The survey had some other interesting findings too – on Brexit and the economy, in particular.

Among the Scottish Tories, only a third feel the Conservative government is handling Brexit well.

That may not be many, but it's still quite incredible given the absolute shambles we're witnessing.

And for the survey overall, it was the First Minister and SNP leader who came out top on the economy.

A total of 51% of those asked said Nicola Sturgeon had the best understanding of the Scottish economy.

The success criteria for the Scottish Tories really are set incredibly low, it seems.