Iain Macwhirter Iain Macwhirter

Douglas Ross has made things even worse for the Tories

Douglas Ross (photo: Getty)

You thought things couldn’t get worse for the Conservative party in this election? They just did. The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has announced that he is to resign his leadership following yet another alleged scandal concerning a Tory politician.

Few in Ross’s own party can keep up with the twists and turns of his political ambitions

Allegations were reported over the weekend that Mr Ross had used his Westminster expenses to travel around the country performing his side hustle as an assistant referee for the Scottish Football Association. Mr Ross denies acting improperly and insists that he has only ever claimed expenses related to his role as MP. Needless to say, the Scottish opposition parties are sceptical and demanding an investigation. 

Any way you look at this, the optics are terrible. Only last week, Mr Ross criticised the SNP First Minister, John Swinney, for defending the former SNP health secretary, Michael Matheson over his 27-day suspension for trying to claim, under his parliamentary expenses, an £11,000 bill for holiday roaming charges.

Written by
Iain Macwhirter

Iain Macwhirter is a former BBC TV presenter and was political commentator for The Herald between 1999 and 2022. He is an author of Road to Referendum and Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won a Referendum but Lost Scotland.

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