Why does the Scottish Tory leader think people should vote Labour?

If Keir Starmer wins the next general election, today’s interview by Douglas Ross will be seen as a point in that victory. To have the Scottish Tory leader suggest that Scots vote, not for his party, but for Labour in seats where Team Starmer is the strongest opponent to the SNP, is quite remarkable – and a signal that the SNP is not the only party in Scotland with serious leadership issues.

‘I will always encourage Scottish Conservative voters to vote Scottish Conservative,’ he has told the Sunday Telegraph. But when it comes to creating more of these Scottish Tory voters ‘I think generally the public can see, and they want the parties to accept, that where there is the strongest candidate to beat the SNP, you get behind that candidate.’

This is no slip of the tongue. The Times had a story a week or so ago quoting an anonymous Tory source to the same effect: the quote, I thought at the time, did not justify the strong headline: ‘Scottish Tories call for tactical voting to end SNP dominance’.