Just when you thought this election campaign couldn’t get any more tumultuous, Douglas Ross has announced he will resign as Scottish Conservative leader. He had lost the support of his colleagues – particularly those in Holyrood – following his decision to effectively take over a Westminster colleague’s constituency when that MP was seriously ill in hospital.
In a statement released this morning, Ross said he had come to the conclusion was no longer ‘feasible’ to be both an MP, MSP and party leader (something he had previously stated, but changed his mind on), but that he will continue to hold the role until after the election. He will also resign from Holyrood if he wins the Westminster seat.
That seat was, until recently, supposed to be where David Duguid was standing. He is in hospital currently but had said he wanted to stand again and had been re-adopted by his local party. But then the Conservative Party management board decided Duguid was too unwell, and Ross announced he would stand instead – having previously said he would be stepping down from his own Westminster seat at this election. The reaction from across the Conservative Party was furious, and culminated in stories this weekend about Ross’s expenses claims which appeared to have come from his own colleagues.
Ross has not had a comfortable tenure as Scottish Conservative leader. He called for Boris Johnson to resign and then withdrew his letter. His decision to take over as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray West from Duguid had annoyed MP colleagues because they felt it was a betrayal. MSPs – whom Ross leads – also objected to him continuing as both an MP and MSP when he had specifically promised not to do that. It had become clear to him in the past few days that he would not be able to lead MSPs because of this level of anger. As with his position on Johnson, Ross changed his mind without being able to explain either stance properly.
This is his full statement:
‘I have served as MP, MSP and leader for over three years now and believed I could continue to do so if re-elected to Westminster, but on reflection, that is not feasible.
I am committed to fighting and winning the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency. Should I be given the honour to represent the people and communities of this new seat, they should know being their MP would receive my complete focus and attention.
I will therefore stand down as leader following the election on July 4, once a successor is elected. Should I win the seat, I will also stand down as an MSP to make way for another Scottish Conservative representative in Holyrood.
My party has a chance to beat the SNP in key seats up and down Scotland, including in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East. We must now come together and fully focus on doing exactly that.’
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