Ross hears ‘mutterings’ about his job
DOUGLAS Ross has admitted there are ‘mutterings’ about ousting him as leader but defended his performance in the wake of the ‘extremely disappointing’ loss of 63 councillors in last week’s election.
The Scottish Tory leader also insisted that blaming Boris Johnson and the Partygate scandal for the party’s dire local election results can be ‘very easily’ squared with wanting him to continue as Prime Minister.
Reports that Tory MSPs have held informal talks about replacing him as leader are nothing new, Mr Ross claimed, with colleagues publicly calling for him to explain his decision to defend Mr Johnson while putting the blame on him for the party’s decline.
Scottish Labour leapfrogged the Tories into second place in Scotland on Thursday, with 282 council seats to 21 .
But a defiant Mr Ross argued that it was still the party’s ‘second-best result in a local government election since the late 1990s’.
Challenged about newspaper reports of colleagues’ concern at his leadership - including a story where an MSP allegedly accused him of not being ‘empathetic’ or ‘warm’, Mr
Ross said: ‘There are always mutterings from anonymous figures.
‘But I put myself forward to be leader of the party, I led the Scottish Conservatives to our best ever result at Holyrood last year – maintaining our position as the main opposition, increasing our votes by over 100,000.
‘I accept my responsibility in this week’s local government elections; I’m disappointed for every colleague that we lost.’
Following comments from Tory MSP Liz Smith that ‘Douglas will have to explain why he’s defending the Prime Minister whilst blaming him for the results’, Mr Ross was asked on the BBC’s Sunday Show how he could justify his position to colleagues.
Mr Ross responded: ‘There is no doubt that the results have been disappointing and that has largely been because of Partygate.
‘But it doesn’t mean this is the time to change the Prime Minister – tomorrow the Russians are seeking to celebrate their Victory Day with more incursions in Ukraine.’