The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Number 10 ‘not involved in Tory leadership bid’
HOLYROOD: Moray MP insists decision to run for top job was not influenced by Boris Johnson
Douglas Ross has said Downing Street and Dominic Cummings were not involved in his decision to run for the Scottish Conservative leadership.
The Moray MP confirmed yesterday that he is running for the party’s top job, following Jackson Carlaw’s surprise decision to stand down the previous day.
Ruth Davidson, who resigned as the Scottish Tory leader last August, could now be poised for a return to frontline politics as Mr Ross hopes she will front the party at First Minister’s Questions.
Mr Ross said he will contest a seat at the next Holyrood election in May if he wins the party leadership, though he will also continue as the MP for Moray.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Ross said he had been urged by colleagues to run for the leadership.
He said Downing Street and Number 10 aide Mr Cummings were “absolutely not” involved in his decision to stand.
Discussing Mr Carlaw, he said: “I think Jackson made a very honest and very brave appraisal of his leadership.
“He’s someone who has served this party extremely well for four decades.”
Speaking of his own plans for the leadership, he added: “I believe as someone who has been a councillor, an MP and an MSP, I can take the fight to the SNP, which we need more of, and also present a positive vision of the party to the country in next May’s election.”
Mr Ross said he will stay on as an MP, and will also continue in his role as a football referee – which he described as a “hobby that I do at the weekends.”
He said: “It’s something that I find a great relief from the often stressful world of politics.”
He said there is precedent for an MSP to also sit as an MP, giving Alex Salmond as an example.
Asked about recent polls which indicated the SNP is on course to win at majority in next year’s Holyrood vote, he said: “I’m absolutely in this to be first minister.
“No one should enter any race for an election if they don’t think they can win.
“I know the challenge we face. No one can be complacent with the polls, they can go down as quickly as they go up.”
Michelle Ballantyne, the Tory MSP for the South Scotland region who stood against Mr Carlaw in the leadership contest, said the party “did make a bad choice” in appointing him as leader, and she suggested he had been removed in a “stitch-up”.