THE CHAIRMAN of the Scottish Conservatives has warned 148 MPs calling for the PM to quit “showed the level of anger” from the public over partygate.
The MSP also suggested that any perceived weakness in the Tories will only benefit the SNP.
Craig Hoy, who is the chairman of Douglas Ross’s party, has insisted the focus is on holding the SNP to account, instead of being drawn on whether Boris Johnson and the Scottish Tories’ leader can continue.
Boris Johnson survived a vote of no confidence last night after 211 Tory MPs backed him – but was dealt a bruising blow to his leadership with 148 of his colleagues having no confidence in his premiership.
Mr Ross, who previously called for Mr Johnson to resign over partygate before changing his tune to insist he stays while the Ukraine war is ongoing, yesterday changed his mind again and voted in favour of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
Speaking to journalists, Mr Hoy said: “I think the result yesterday showed the level of anger amongst many of our constituents and I think it was reflective of that.
"I think it’s now really for the Prime Minister to reflect on that result.”
Asked whether Mr Johnson can still lead Scottish Tories, Mr Hoy said his party has “a challenge to hold the SNP Government to account”.
He said: “That’s why we’ll be focused on here over the coming weeks and months.
“Obviously what will play out at Westminster will play out there. But I think our focus has to be on making sure we will still maximise the vote here in Scotland and that’s what we’ll be committed to doing.”
Mr Hoy was asked if it was tenable for Mr Ross and Mr Johnson to remain leaders going into the next general election.
He said: “We’ll go into a general election making sure that we maximise the number of votes for the Conservative party in Scotland and also to maximise the number of Conservative MPs at Westminster.
“We’ll always be keen to fly the Conservative flag in Scotland and that will be the job for all of us to do in a general election.”
Mr Hoy added: “We would always have confidence in saying to the Scottish people to vote Scottish Conservative because that is the best way to stand up for the Union.
“There’s no difference of opinion within the Conservative party north or south of the border. That would always be our priority in the general election.”
Asked how the Scottish Tories will attempt to distance themselves form the party at Westminster in an election, he said: “We will look at any future election just staking out our policy offering for Scotland and just setting out quite clearly that any perceived weakness in the Conservative party only benefits the SNP.
“If the Labour party is going to return to government, it can only do so with the support of the SNP.
“That’s why that coalition of chaos will be one of the key things that we’ll be talking about between now and the election.
“That’s why we will be striving to get the maximum number of votes for any Conservative government at any election in the future.
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