We didn't think he had it in him. The diminutive, in a political sense, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, has finally made his mark. By disowning his leader, Boris Johnson, and calling for his resignation, Mr Ross has certainly raised his stature. The mouse has roared.
But one wonders if he is fully aware of what he has done. After all, it is not at all clear that Boris Johnson is going to resign, in which case Mr Ross's intervention might look futile. Indeed it may backfire if Johnson is still around come the next general election. Or indeed at the local elections in May. How can Mr Ross he tell Scots now to vote for a party led by someone he regards as unfit for office?
He might as well follow logic of his actions and disown the UK Conservative Party as a whole. Declare UDI. After all, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party is itself a relatively recent creation. Before 1965, it was the Scottish Unionist Party that stood for the centre right in Scottish elections. It was hugely successful too. In 1955 it won a majority of votes and seats in the general election of that year, a success it has never repeated.
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