DOUGLAS Ross has “undermined his credibility” and proved his doubters right that he has no backbone by failing to call for the PM to resign, the leader of the Scottish LibDems has claimed.
Alex Cole-Hamilton has insisted that the Partygate scandal engulfing the Conservatives is already having an impact during the local election campaign and claimed the Scottish Tory leader has done himself no favours by fusing to call on Boris Johnson to quit.
The renewed demands for him to resign come after the Prime Minster was hit with a police fixed penalty notice for attending a lockdown party in Downing Street.
Mr Johnson along with Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was also fined by police, have apologised for the fiasco but have resisted calls to quit their jobs.
Mr Ross, who was one of the first MPs to call for Mr Johnson to quit after it emerged he had attended one of several parties held at Downing Street, withdraw his letter to the 1922 Committee amid the war in Ukraine and yesterday said now was not the right time to oust the PM due to the international landscape.
Speaking to journalists at the launch of the Scottish LibDems council election manifesto, Mr Cole-Hamilton said he was “not really surprised, but hugely disappointed” by Mr Ross’s response.
The Scottish LibDem leader said his reaction shows that Tory UK Government minister Jacob Rees-Mogg was correct to brand Mr Ross a “lightweight”.
Addressing Mr Ross's position, he said: “I thought that he had more calibre than this.
“I thought he was a stronger more heavyweight politician but he’s proved his detractors right – he is a lightweight and he has no backbone.
“This has just undermined his credibility and I don’t know where he goes from here. Certainly his vacillation on this is coming back on the doorstep as well. It’s going to hurt the Scottish Tories too.”
Mr Cole-Hamilton stressed he would “take no joy to what’s happening in Downing Street”, but suggested that his party could make gains from disillusioned Tory voters in next month’s local elections.
He said: “I want a government that’s functional and working for the interests of the country and this government is not doing that right now.
“It is going to hurt them in the elections. Door-by-door, street-by-street, we are detecting this level of anger that I have not seen on the doorsteps in my 30 years of active politics.”
M Cole-Hamilton added: “This is political strychnine for the Tory party. For them and for the good of the country, they need to recognise what’s happening and get him to go.
“We have a situation now where Tory MPs are at home for Easter, they will be having conversations like the ones we’re having on the doorsteps, they will be receiving their instructions from the people they serve in parliament, and I hope that when they return next week they will be in short order submitting their letters to the 1922 Committee.”
Several Conservative MPs, including Mr Ross, have suggested that due to the war in Ukraine and Mr Johnson being a key ally of the Ukrainian defensive effort, it would be inappropriate to force him out of Downing Street.
But Mr Cole-Hamilton insisted that the PM’s “position is untenable”, adding that “he has to resign for the good of the country”.
He said: “Britain has a proud tradition of getting rid of prime ministers during wars. We lost Neville Chamberlain when we had British boots on the ground in France. We lost two prime ministers in the Crimean War.
“This is not something that actually holds any weight whatsoever.
“In fact, arguably at a time of national crisis, and it’s not just the international security crisis we’re facing, it’s the cost-of-living – households facing the biggest hit to their incomes since the end of rationing and the climate emergency and the pandemic that’s still ongoing, we need a government that is not beset by scandal after scandal after scandal.
“I’d say if anything that adds weight to calls for him for his resignation.”
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