Hammer blow for Boris Johnson as Scottish Tory leader calls on him to go
Douglas Ross says the Prime Minister should stand down after he admitted attending a party in the Downing Street garden during lockdown
Last updated 12th Jan 2022
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has called for the Prime Minister to stand down after he admitted attending a party thrown in the Downing Street garden during lockdown.
Boris Johnson said at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday that he had attended the event, to which more around 100 people were invited, for about 25 minutes, perceiving it to be a "work event".
Mr Ross is the highest profile Conservative to call for the Prime Minister to go, claiming Mr Johnson's position is now "untenable".
"We had a long conversation - it was a difficult conversation and I don't do this lightly, it's a big decision for me personally.... I'm certain it's not what the Prime Minister wanted to hear".
"If the Prime Minister was there, and he accepted today that he was, then I felt he could not continue.
The Moray MP said he spoke to the Prime Minister on Wednesday afternoon "and I set down my reasons and I explained to him my position" although he refused to divulge how the Prime Minister responded.
Mr Ross, who is understood to be sending a letter to the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs expressing his lack of confidence in the Prime Minister, said Mr Johnson believed he "didn't do anything wrong".
Mr Ross was immediately supported by Scottish Tory colleagues, including former leader Jackson Carlaw and MSPs Murdo Fraser, Liz Smith and Douglas Lumsden, who took to Twitter to back their leader.
The Tory MP said there was "significant unrest and concern" among Conservative members in Westminster and Holyrood over the gathering.
ITV News reported on Tuesday an email had been sent by the Prime Minister's principal private secretary inviting staff to a gathering in the grounds of Downing Street on May 20 2020.
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Johnson said he went into the garden to thank staff for their efforts and stayed for 25 minutes.
"I believed implicitly that this was a work event," he said.
"With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside. I should have found some other way to thank them.
"I should have recognised that even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there are millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way, people who have suffered terribly, people who were forbidden for meeting loved ones at all inside or outside, and to them and to this House I offer my heartfelt apologies."