DOUGLAS Ross labelled gatherings in Downing Street as "utterly wrong" but said Boris Johnson should not be removed from office amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. 

After both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor were fined for breaking lockdown rules, Mr Ross said the UK should not undergo a lengthy party leader election amid the war.

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives previously called on Boris Johnson to resign when the partygate scandal came out at the start of the year. 

Mr Ross defended the change of stance despite Mr Johnson becoming the first Prime Minister to have been found to have broken the law while in office and said it would "take several months" to replace the position. 

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, he said: "The most recent election of Conservative Party leader took several months, and the situation in Ukraine has changed my view on this.

"I'm not saying it changes everyone's view. But it has changed my view on this. It's been going now for several weeks."


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The Scottish Tory leader claimed he shared the "anger and the fury" of the public but that is "also looking at the global situation". 

"I think even the Prime Minister's harshest critics would agree that he and the UK Government have responded well to the situation in Ukraine," Mr Ross added. 

In a public apology, the Prime Minister admitted that he did not realise the gathering on June 19, 2020, attended by around 30 people in No.10, had broken lockdown rules. 

Addressing claims that Mr Johnson may have misled Parliament regarding events taking place in Downing Street at the height of Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Ross said: "If the Prime Minister believed he hadn't broken the rules, that's for him."

"The Prime Minister has explained why he said that. What he believed at the time because it's clearly not the case in terms of what has been thoroughly investigated by the Met Police, the conclusions they've reached and the acceptance of those conclusions by the Prime Minister."

Meanwhile, earlier Ian Blackford told the BBC Mr Johnson should recall Parliament and issue a resignation. 

He said: "Let's be quite clear about this, he broke the law. He broke his own laws.

"There is a breach of trust with the public in these islands and there has to be honour and dignity in public life and when you've had a culture, as has been the case in Downing Street, to party at the time of the Covid crisis when everybody else had to follow the rules put in place this is simply not acceptable.

"That dignity and honour in public life dictate that the Prime Minister has to go."

The SNP Westminster leader claimed that if Mr Johnson does not resign on his own, his party should carry out a vote of confidence in him.

He added: "If he doesn't do that then Conservative MPs have got to accept their own responsibilities.

"We know that constituents right across the United Kingdom are very clearly of the view that this Prime Minister has lost the right to govern and if he won't go himself then Parliament should do that for him."