Scottish Tories ‘to give PM conference cold shoulder’

BORIS JOHNSON is unlikely to be invited to speak to the Scottish Tory conference, it has emerged, in the wake of infighting over the Prime Minister’s future.

The party has not made a final decision on whether the conference will be virtual or in person, although a venue has been pencilled in for Mar 18 and 19.

Senior party sources said it was “hard to see how he could be there.”

However, a spokesman for the Scottish Tories said: “No discussions have been had about this.”

Mr Johnson spoke at the Scottish conference in 2020 and 2021 and it would be the first time a UK party leader had been barred from the event.

It came after Jacob Rees-mogg was accused of helping Nicola Sturgeon make the case for Scottish independence for claiming Douglas Ross is a “lightweight figure” following his demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation. Mr Rees-mogg directed a series of attacks at the Scottish Tory leader as he toured TV and radio studios attempting to bolster Boris Johnson’s precarious position in Downing Street.

But senior Scottish Tories said the interventions were “bonkers” and “blue-on-blue madness”, which would play into the hands of Ms Sturgeon. One saidl “Mr Rees-mogg should just shut up, frankly.”

Ms Sturgeon seized on the comments at First Minister’s Questions, arguing the insults directed at Mr Ross said “something much deeper about the Westminster establishment’s utter contempt for Scotland.” She said that independence would mean “no longer have to put up with being treated like something on the sole of Westminster’s shoe.”

With 27 out of 31 Tory MSPS at Holyrood publicly calling for Mr Johnson to resign, she questioned why Scotland was having to put up with a PM “that his own colleagues think is not fit for office.”