Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has announced his intention to stand at the General Election after the party blocked the re-election bid of a seriously ill MP. 

The shock news on Thursday morning comes just hours before nominations close for the July 4 vote. 

David Duguid, a former Scottish Office minister, was due to contest the new Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency for the party. 

But on Wednesday night, he revealed on X that the party had "decided not to put me forward as their chosen candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East."

READ MORE: David Duguid: Scottish Tories drop hospitalised candidate

The Party's Management Board - made up of Tory chair Craig Hoy, Mr Ross and other senior officer bearers - said Mr Duguid was too sick to stand. 

Mr Duguid has been in hospital for an illness affecting his spine since early April, including a stay in a high-dependency unit. 

He initially spent four weeks in the intensive care unit at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary before being moved to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Glasgow to complete his recovery.

Mr Duguid first made his illness public at the end of May when Rishi Sunak called the snap vote. The MP said at the time his intention was to contest the seat. 

Speaking at a hastily organised press conference in Edinburgh on Thursday morning, Mr Ross paid tribute to his "friend and colleague."

However, he said that because of his "serious health issues" the  Tory party Management Board had "concluded that David could not proceed as our candidate for the new seat of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East."

He added that the constituency would be "very competitive, a hard-fought, close contest between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP."

"I have decided I need to lead from the front," he said.

"This evening I will put myself forward for nomination as the Scottish Conservative candidate to beat the SNP in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

"I’m ready for this challenge."

Mr Ross said he expected the SNP to "throw everything they’ve got at beating me."

He added: "They’ll mobilise teams from the Central Belt to come north and hand out leaflets. John Swinney will give us a rare visit.

"The SNP HQ in Edinburgh will pour money into Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

"But if everybody locally who wants to beat the SNP comes together, I know we can keep the Nationalists out.

"So this afternoon I will go to the constituency to seek my party’s nomination and start my campaign."

READ MORE: Analysis: Why is Ross doing U turn on standing for Westminster?

Some local members are furious at the decision to block Mr Duguid, accusing the leadership of a stitch up.

The party's approved candidates were informed that the incumbent was unable to stand at around 9pm on Wednesday. Anyone wanting to take on Mr Ross had until 11am today to throw their hat into the ring. 

Asked about anger from local activists, Mr Ross told The Herald: "I understand there will be concerns, but crucially, a few weeks out from the election, this is a seat that we can win.

"We can beat the SNP and I know from local activists I've spoken to already who've urged me to consider standing, they are absolutely determined to continue the work that David's done for the last seven years to make sure we continue to have a Conservative MP for that area, and to make sure we stand up against the SNP, against their obsession with independence and against the way they've forgotten about that part of the country.

"The SNP have ignored the north east of Scotland and particularly that constituency with some of the key infrastructure issues that we've seen there, issues with the downgrading of local medical facilities, all of the points are crucial to voters on the doorstep and will be issues I'll be raising in the campaign, both locally but nationally against SNP."

A spokesman said that although Mr Ross is on the Management Board he did not take part in the decision to block Mr Duguid.

They said they had asked for some "medical information" about the MP last week. 

"We admire David's tenacity, toughness and wanting to stand, but the party management board felt that for his recovery it wouldn't be the best course for him to stand."

He added: "We just have a basic duty of care to make sure our candidates are healthy enough to stand and their recovery in this particular instance won't be damaged by going through a difficult, physically demanding campaign."

"We're pleased that David's recovery is going well, we hope that continues, he's got our support throughout this process.

"We really hope the recovery continues and that one day he can stand for us again but the party Management Board felt that in the interim his recovery would be put at risk if he stood in this election."

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SNP campaign director Stewart Hosie said it was a "day of shame for the Tories, with three-jobs Douglas Ross taking a seat from David Duguid to keep his third salary at Westminster."

"The way the Tories have treated Mr Duguid is indefensible. The nasty party just got nastier," he added.

Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie said “This screeching u-turn shows there is no promise flip flop Ross won’t break.

“Douglas Ross is treating his constituents with contempt by refusing to give up one of his three jobs and his shoddy treatment of his own colleague shows how morally bankrupt the Tories are."

Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “This is shockingly cruel treatment of David Duguid by the Tories and heartless opportunism from Douglas Ross in particular.
 
“The fact that they can do this to one of their own, in the middle of his recovery, tells you everything you need to know about what they will do to anyone else."