Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has demanded Boris Johnson quit over partygate - putting herself at odds with Douglas Ross.
The Conservative peer said the Prime Minister had “lost the moral authority” after he was fined over lockdown parties.
Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak are under immense pressure after it was confirmed they would be issued with fixed penalty notices over partygate.
However, the scandal is also ripping the Scottish party apart.
Scottish Tory leader Ross, who called on the PM to quit earlier this year, is now backing him to stay in office.
He said: "The public are rightly furious at what happened in Downing Street during the pandemic. I understand why they are angry and share their fury. The behaviour was unacceptable. The Prime Minister now needs to respond to these fines being issued.
"However, as I've made very clear, in the middle of war in Europe, when Vladimir Putin is committing war crimes and the UK is Ukraine's biggest ally, as President Zelensky said at the weekend, it wouldn't be right to remove the Prime Minister at this time.
“It would destabilise the UK Government when we need to be united in the face of Russian aggression and the murdering of innocent Ukrainians."
But Davidson, his predecessor, urged Johnson to quit. She tweeted: “Met confirms what we already knew: the PM introduced liberty-curtailing rules for public health reasons. This caused huge hardship for those separated from ill or dying loved ones. He then broke the rules he imposed on the country & lost the moral authority to lead. He should go.”
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