Ross drops call for PM to quit and invites him to conference
DOUGLAS ROSS has withdrawn his demand that the Prime Minister resign over “partygate” and invited him to next week’s Scottish Tory conference in a significant boost to Boris Johnson’s survival chances.
The Scottish Tory leader offered an olive branch to Mr Johnson by disclosing that he had withdrawn his letter to the 1922 Committee calling for a vote of no confidence.
The Scottish Conservatives also invited the Prime Minister to speak in person at their two-day spring conference in Aberdeen next week.
It had previously been expected he would address the event virtually, thereby sparing the pair a potentially embarrassing meeting with the media watching.
Mr Ross said “there will be a time and a place to debate partygate” but the Prime Minister deserved the Scottish Tories’ support during the Ukrainian crisis.
The Moray MP added: “The middle of an international crisis is not the time to be discussing resignations, unless it’s the removal from office of Vladimir Putin.”
His intervention was a boost to Mr Johnson’s hopes of riding out the scandal as Mr Ross was the first senior Tory to demand his resignation.
Mr Ross urged Mr Johnson to quit in January after the Prime Minister failed to convince him in a phone call of his reasons for attending a Downing Street garden party during lockdown. Almost all the party’s 31 MSPS then echoed their leader’s call.
However, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that the Prime Minister sent Mr Ross a handwritten birthday card later that month, and relations have thawed since the onset of the Ukraine crisis.
The surprise development emerged as Ian Blackford, the SNP’S Westminster leader, was forced to deny rumours that he was considering quitting the post.
The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP described as “total rubbish, complete nonsense” claims by the Politico website that he was considering his position over fierce infighting among SNP MPS.
Politico said it had spoken to four party officials who said they believed Mr Blackford’s departure could come before May’s council elections.