Douglas Ross set to join Scottish Tory leadership race
Moray MP Douglas Ross is "likely to be a candidate in the contest'' to be leader of the Scottish Conservatives following Jackson Carlaw's sudden resignation.
After less than six months in the job, Mr Carlaw on Thursday said he made the "painful decision'' after realising he was not the best person to lead the party in the run-up to next May's Holyrood election.
Ruth Davidson stood down from the role in August last year with Mr Carlaw serving as acting leader until being fully appointed in February.
However John Lamont, MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, also confirmed Ms Davidson would return to frontline politics and play a part in the team if Mr Ross is elected.
That would involve her facing Nicola Sturgeon every week at First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid tribute to Mr Carlaw saying he has been a tremendous servant to the Scottish Conservative Party for more than four decades''.
But Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for the South Scotland region who stood against Mr Carlaw, said the party "did make a bad choice'' in appointing him leader and suggested the decision to remove him was a "stitch up''.
Mr Ross had been a parliamentary under-secretary of state for Scotland but resigned from the role in May after Dominic Cummings' efforts to defend his trip from London to Durham despite the coronavirus lockdown.
Outside of politics he's also an assistant referee in top flight football in Scotland.
He was elected to Westminster in the 2017 general election, taking the seat of Angus Robertson, former SNP leader in the House of Commons, having been a regional MSP for the Highlands and Islands in the year prior.
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