DOUGLAS Ross has addressed reports of multiple rebellions brewing within his Scottish Tory party.
It comes as the Highlands and Islands MSP’s position leading the Scots Conservatives sits on a shoogly peg, with suggestions that a challenge could be mounted before Christmas.
Speaking at the UK-wide Conservative conference in Birmingham, Ross had outlined new policies from his party before coming out in favour of the Chancellor’s U-turn on scrapping the 45p upper rate of income tax.
The move has seen Ross branded a “charlatan” because he had publicly backed the tax cuts until Monday morning.
It is the latest in a long line of climbdowns and U-turns which have come to characterise Ross’s time at the head of the Scottish Tories, not least his “flip flopping” on whether or not disgraced former prime minister Boris Johnson should resign.
In the wake of the UK Government’s disastrous “mini-budget”, rumours have been building of “at least” two separate bids to remove the Moray MP from the head of the Scottish Tory party.
Asked about the reports at the conference, Ross said he was “getting on with the job of holding the SNP to account”.
He added: “I read the stories, but if I get to Hogmanay and I am still leader then clearly I will have outlived the expectations of the Scottish media.”
The Scottish Sun reported over the weekend that one of the groups looking to oust Ross as leader had been planning to hold off until the new year. However, the “clusterf***” of the UK Government’s mini-budget – which Ross backed – was said to have “accelerated plotting”.
The news comes after an exodus of staff from Ross’s backroom team, including key figures such as chief of staff Jon Novakovic and director of communications David Bateman.
The Scottish Tories were publicly embarrassed after hiring Craig Paterson as part of a replacement drive, who Ross said had formerly been “a key part of Scottish Labour’s operations” under Jim Murphy’s leadership.
However, Murphy then intervened to say he had never heard of, let alone met or hired, Paterson.
Under Ross’s leadership, the Tories slid into third place in the Scottish local elections earlier in 2022, returning 214 councillors to Labour's 282 and the SNP's 453.
In 2021, he managed to match the record 31 MSPs returned by the Scottish Tories under Ruth Davidson’s leadership in 2016.
Incidentally, a public bet means Ross would have to pay First Minister Nicola Sturgeon £100 out of his own pocket if he were to be ousted as Scottish Tory leader while she remains at the head of the SNP.
