Douglas Ross has been a coward about Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson’s dwindling brigade of supporters point to the Conservatives’ landslide election win of 2019 as evidence he’s too gifted a politician for his party to lose. But they conveniently ignore the fact his charm stopped working at the border with Scotland.

Voters across much of England may have flocked to Johnson but he repelled many Scots. In 2019, the SNP won back 13 of the 21 seats it had lost two years previously, when Theresa May was prime minister. The Tories lost seven Scottish seats.

There is a particular caricature of the distant, uncaring Conservative that repels Scottish voters. And that caricature is Boris Johnson-shaped.

So, over recent years, it has made very good political sense for the Scottish Tories to make it clear they share the public’s doubts about Johnson.

This was something former leader Ruth Davidson understood very well. Her absolutely heartfelt contempt for Johnson has never been in doubt. Not only did she thoroughly dislike the idea of a Johnson premiership, she saw good political reasons – after helping revive her party’s fortunes in Scotland – for making sure everyone knew it.