Boris? He’s perfectly convivial, says Ruth ...but unfit for office
BORIS Johnson has been branded ‘unfit for office’ by former Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson.
In her latest broadside at the Prime Minister, Baroness Davidson also warned that many in the party are becoming tired of the ‘drama’ coming out of No 10.
She had previously said Mr Johnson’s position on the ‘Partygate’ affair was not ‘remotely defensible’.
And she has fully backed her successor, Douglas Ross, in calling for him to resign.
She said that, if she were an MP, she would submit a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister to the 1922 Committee – 54 of which are needed to trigger a vote on his leadership.
Baroness Davidson said there was no ‘deep-rooted hatred’ between the two, but she added: ‘I didn’t support him for the leadership and I believe what has been exposed to have happened in the last few weeks shows that he’s unfit for office.
‘But, I mean, he’s perfectly convivial company.’
She added: ‘I think one of the reasons that the Prime Minister is in such a perilous situation is not just because of the apparent rulebreaking, although that is a big part of it, but because there is a fatigue even within the party and certainly among my MP colleagues over the drama that has been emanating from No 10.’
And she again ruled herself out of one day succeeding him as Prime Minister, insisting: ‘That will never be my path.’
Baroness Davidson’s comments, in an interview with The Times, will deepen the split between the Scottish Conservatives and those in the party who remain loyal to the Prime Minister.
Almost all Tory MSPs backed
Mr Ross’s call for Mr Johnson to stand down.
Of the other five Scottish MPs, only Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, has fully backed Mr Johnson, with the others waiting to see the outcome of the investigation by Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Sue Gray.
However, MP Andrew Bowie warned that the Prime Minister’s apology was ‘not enough’, while both David Mundell and John Lamont made clear that holding parties at No 10 while the country was under strict Covid restrictions was ‘not acceptable’.
The row has at least achieved the unlikely feat of aligning the views of Baroness Davidson and hardline Nationalist campaign group All Under One Banner – on this issue at least.
The independence campaigners, who have previously welcomed convicted perjurer Tommy Sheridan as a guest speaker, held a so-called ‘emergency rally’ yesterday, marching from Glasgow’s George Square to Glasgow Green to protest against the Prime Minister’s actions.
Among the speakers was Stephen Flynn, Nationalist MP for Aberdeen South.
He said: ‘As you know, as I know, as everyone up and down Scotland knows, this Prime Minister is a charlatan, this Prime Minister is corrupt and this Prime Minister is a liar.
‘This is a man who partied ... whilst people across Scotland and across the UK were dying.
‘Boris Johnson needs to go and he needs to go now.’
The SNP is hopeful that the public’s anger at the Prime Minister will boost support for independence, although the latest polls show that even now it has not risen above 50 per cent. Mr Flynn said: ‘Let’s be done with Boris Johnson, let’s be done with the Tories, let’s be done with Westminster and let’s be done with their Union. ‘Let’s build something better, let’s build something that’s got compassion at its heart, that’s got people at its heart, that’s got our values and our principles at its heart.’
‘I didn’t support him for the leadership’