The Scotsman Bulletin Monday 10 June 2024 #DouglasRoss

The Scotsman

Scotsman deputy political editor David Bol joins Scotsman deputy editor Alan Young to discuss the surprise announcement from Douglas Ross that he is stepping down as leader of the Scottish Conservatives

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

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.

05:38 [MUSIC]

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