DOUGLAS Ross has broken his silence on the confidence vote facing Boris Johnson this evening.
The Scottish Tory leader has now said he will support the motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
It comes after months of back and forth from Ross over whether or not Johnson should go.
He initially called for the PM to quit when the partygate allegations first emerged and even sent a letter of no confidence to the backbench 1922 committee, with support from his Holyrood parliamentary party.
But shortly before the Tory party conference in March, Ross gave his backing to the Prime Minister and said he should stay because of the Ukraine crisis, withdrawing his letter.
After the full Sue Gray report emerged, Ross insisted that his position was that Johnson should remain in place while the Ukraine crisis is ongoing.
However, he has also previously said that he would consider changing his position if the Standards Committee finds Johnson had knowingly misled MPs.
After this, Ross told The National he had "only changed position once" on whether or not Johnson should resign.
And now, in a statement ahead of the vote in Westminster, Ross said: “While war in Europe continues and the UK Government is providing such strong support to President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine, the timing of this vote is far from ideal.
“However, while I’ve not sought to bring this vote about at this time, it is now going ahead tonight, and I’ve had to consider how to vote on behalf of my constituents and the country.
“I do so knowing there are vocal opinions on both sides of this argument, an argument that has dominated much of the political discussion for many months.
“The Prime Minister can be proud of many of the successes his government have led on, particularly the Covid vaccine and the furlough scheme.
Having listened closely to people in Moray who re-elected me and people across Scotland, tonight I will support the motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/YXE0rEyvsn
— Douglas Ross MP MSP (@Douglas4Moray) June 6, 2022
“However, I have heard loud and clear the anger at the breaking of Covid rules that we all did our best to follow, and even more so at the statements to Parliament from the Prime Minister on this topic.
“Having listened closely to people in Moray who re-elected me to represent them, and from many people across Scotland, now that this confidence vote is upon us, I cannot in good faith support Boris Johnson.
"My vote tonight will support the motion of no confidence.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "I’ve heard of politicians doing U-turns. This one does donuts."
It comes after mounting pressure from fellow Scottish Tories, with Murdo Fraser and Ruth Davidson both refusing to back Johnson, as well as some of the Tory MSP group.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has reiterated his unwavering support for Johnson, adding that he has shown "tremendous leadership" at home and abroad.
Of the remaining four Scottish Tory MPs, only Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) has criticised the PM, but fell short of calling for a resignation last week.
David Duguid (Banff and Buchan), John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) and David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) have made no public statements so far.
More to follow...
