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00:10 Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Bulletin for Monday. I'm Alan Young, I am
00:14 Deputy Editor of the Scotsman. I'm joined today by our political, Deputy Political Editor
00:20 David Ball to take a look at the main headlines and there is a massive headline in Scottish
00:26 politics today, David. Yeah, I mean Douglas Ross has not had the best of weeks and he's
00:31 announced today that after the general election, which he's obviously putting himself forward for
00:36 now, he will sort of quit as a leader of the Scottish Tories and if he loses, if he wins that
00:42 seat, he'll quit as an MSP altogether. Incredible. Let's have a look at the front page today and it
00:48 will just maybe give us an idea of how quickly events have moved on. So our splash there is
00:54 pressure mounting on Douglas Ross and that is over the decision by the Conservatives last week to
01:02 deselect the former Minister David Dukett, which then allowed Douglas Ross to stand in his seat.
01:12 That was something of a U-turn because he said he was going to step down from Westminster to
01:19 focus on the Scottish Parliament. Just before we move on and get deeper into the story, I should
01:27 highlight obviously Taylor Swift up there at the top of the page. We've got a wrap-up of an
01:33 incredible weekend in Edinburgh and we picture on the front there the Scottish football team having
01:40 fun as they arrive at their German training base. But David, this is a significant move in Scottish
01:51 politics. Where does it leave the Scottish Tories? Well, they're in a bit of a crisis mode to be
01:56 honest. I mean, before the deselection thing, as you mentioned, happened, they were kind of
02:01 putting around quite calmly compared to what was going on with their party down south. They had a
02:05 real good chance of holding on to most, if not all, of their seats. They're very much bucking the
02:10 trend of the Westminster Tories. And now they've got this hanging over them as they go into this
02:15 election. There's no stability at all. And obviously, Douglas Ross has announced he's quitting,
02:22 even though he's taken the party into an election. So it does put them in a very bad position going
02:28 into the election, one that they didn't really need to have to be facing. Is that an indication
02:34 of the pressure that he's been facing in the background? We have seen reports of MSPs being,
02:40 in particular, being very unhappy by his decision to stand. Yeah, I think that's what's happened.
02:46 The pressure's just got a bit much. They've had enough, basically. I mean, after he announced
02:50 that he was putting himself forward for this new seat, which is part of his constituency
02:55 that he covers at the moment, a few bad benches were just completely puzzled. One on Thursday
03:00 told me it just showed a bit of a lack of judgment from him. And they've obviously just come to a
03:05 point where they think, well, we need someone to focus on Holyrood. That's what he vowed to do.
03:09 We need that focus. The Tories are looking like slipping behind Labour and the SNP at the next
03:14 Holyrood election, which is only two years out, still a while away. But they need someone to
03:20 focus on that. And he's obviously made it very clear he wasn't the man to do that. And I think
03:24 that internal pressure has just taken its toll on it. And he's decided he needs to go.
03:30 And where's the party going to look now? Are there obvious candidates within the Scottish Parliament?
03:39 I wouldn't say there are any obvious candidates, to be honest. And that's maybe protected him
03:43 in his job for a little bit of time, to be perfectly clear. There was talk last week
03:49 about sort of Meghan Gallagher, but a few people don't sort of rate her as a full leader. She's
03:55 his deputy at the moment. She's not been in Parliament that long. And same with Russell
03:59 Findlay. He's seen as quite a strong voice. But a lot of people in his party maybe see him as more
04:05 effective in that sort of justice portfolio that he kind of knows in and out and he's
04:09 very comfortable doing. So there isn't an obvious successor. And that is going to be a bit of a
04:16 problem. We could have this leadership contest. It's not entirely clear how that will play out
04:21 or the timetable for that. But there's no one that you would assume would just naturally take
04:26 over that job from Douglas Ross. Have we heard any reaction from any other parties today?
04:32 Yeah, it's what you would expect. People, just opposition, saying that it was kind of inevitable
04:40 and it just shows that the Tories don't know what they're doing. They're basically
04:45 very off the charts in terms of knowing what the public feel about.
04:49 I mean, Jackie Bailey, I think, said that the Tory party is divided and chaotic and it just does
04:57 play into that narrative that they're a bit of a mess. And especially during election,
05:04 you wouldn't expect them to be particularly kind about Douglas Ross leaving. And they haven't been
05:08 particularly. They're basically saying, well, this is what you get, essentially.
05:12 Thanks very much, David. Much more to come after those dramatic developments today. You can follow
05:17 all the very latest at Scotsman.com, where we have a live blog and also David's analysis on
05:25 what is going on. If you can, please do subscribe and then you'll be able to read and watch absolutely
05:30 everything on our site. And if you are out and about today, please do pick up a copy of the
05:35 paper from me and from David. Bye for now.
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