The assistant ref who blew time on career of Nationalist big beast...

DOUGLAS Ross has been seen as a rising star within the Scottish Conservative ranks.

He has shown himself to be a man who is not easily intimidated – both in politics and on the soccer pitch.

The Moray MP has continued to work on the side as a football linesman – and once had to force Cristiano Ronaldo to toe the line at a Champions League match between Sporting Lisbon and Real Madrid in 2016.

His task was to inspect the studs on the players’ boots before the game, but the FIFA World Player of the Year didn’t feel the need to lift his specially designed footwear since he had just that week unveiled them to the public to much fanfare.

It wasn’t an excuse that washed with the Aberdeen-born politician. Yesterday, it was Dominic Cummings who incurred the wrath of Mr Ross, with the MP’s shock resignation as Scotland Office Minister causing ructions across UK politics.

His decision shocked many colleagues, since he only entered government just before Christmas in the wake of the general election.

Boris Johnson hand-picked him for the junior minister role after being impressed by his efforts since becoming an MP in 2017, when he famously ousted former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson from the Moray seat.

Ex-Prime Minister Theresa May had been reluctant to give any of the 2017 intake of Scottish MPs a key role in government because they lacked experience – but Mr Johnson thought differently.

When he made his only visit to Scotland during the election campaign, he chose Mr Ross’s constituency.

While some in the Tory Party in Scotland were reluctant to embrace Mr Johnson and believed he would be toxic, Mr Ross had no such concerns. ‘I think opinions on Boris Johnson are changing,’ he said. ‘I have found a shift in recent times.’

Mr Ross entered politics at the age of 24 and has since been elected to a local authority, the Scottish parliament and Westminster.

After serving on Moray Council, he was elected as a Highlands MSP at Holyrood in 2016 and went straight into Ruth Davidson’s frontbench team as justice spokesman. To his frustration, however, most of the early focus on his Holyrood career was on his second job as a football linesman.

He caused controversy by missing a crucial vote against the SNP’s council tax reforms – which featured prominently in the Scottish Tories’ Holyrood election campaign – to attend a refereeing course in Switzerland. He then skipped a justice committee meeting to officiate at a Champions League match.

Mr Ross’s register of interests, which showed that he earned up to £40,000 a year as a ‘specialist assistant referee’ was regularly scrutinised by his opponents.

Despite these controversies, his reputation as a polihis tician grew and he opted to stand for Westminster in 2017, with his victory over Mr Robertson being one of the biggest scalps of the night.

But his role as an MP led to renewed scrutiny of his football activities and he had to announce he would not act as a linesman on Parliament days – a decision which ended hopes of going to the World Cup.

He did, however, miss a key Brexit vote last year – after rushing home when his wife, Krystle, went into labour.

When he was named Scotland Office Minister in December, most felt his career was on an upward trajectory and a place in Cabinet loomed.

But Mr Ross opted to cut it short yesterday because of the backlash he has faced from his constituents over the Cummings affair.

Some colleagues believe that, at the age of 37, his resignation will not halt his rise to the top of the party in Scotland. A senior source said: ‘He’s still an MP and we won’t have seen the last of him. If anyone is to look at who will be a leader in five or ten years there won’t be anyone more likely than him.’

‘Hand-picked for ministerial role’

‘Won’t halt his rise to the top’