THE Scottish Conservatives should split from the UK party if Boris Johnson does not resign, according to a former MSP.

Adam Tomkins said Douglas Ross and his 31 MSPs who called for the Prime Minister to quit would have to prove their critics wrong and take action if Mr Johnson remains in post.

The former Glasgow Tory MSP has long called for the party to be separate from the UK Conservatives, and said the latest revelations about parties in Downing Street and the Scottish Conservatives’ disdain for the PM further illustrates the need to break away.

Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Tomkins said they should create a new “fighting force” separate from the UK party, explaining: “If you're the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, and you call in public for the resignation of the leader of the UK Conservative Party, and that resignation does not come, then you've got a choice to make.

“You could prove your critics inside the party -  Jacob Rees-Mogg – right, you can prove that you're a lightweight by doing nothing about it.

“Or you could say well, there needs to be consequences of this.”

Mr Tomkins did not go as far as to say party leader Mr Ross would have to resign himself if Boris Johnson did not, saying he was a “man of steel” who “stood up for what he believes in”.

He added: “If that becomes a resignation issue in Scottish politics, then we are all doomed.”

The former MSP suggested that for Scottish elections the Scottish Conservatives would be a separate party, but for general elections they would still remain part of the UK party, explaining: “ If Boris Johnson doesn't go, then Douglas and the 31 Conservative MSPs in Holyrood have to think really hard about what kind of relationship, what kind of association - if anything - they want to continue to have with the Conservative party that is led by Boris Johnson.

“What I am calling for is for the party in the Scottish Parliament to be distinct from the party at UK level.

“I think the electorate in Scotland is very sophisticated. It understands that arguments and debates about elections to the Scottish Parliament are different from arguments and debate about elections to the Westminster parliament. And we can have different party structures in different sorts of parliamentary elections to reflect that sophistication.”

A “fighting force” which could have its own ideas and policies distinctly different from those in Westminster would help to boost the Scottish Conservatives, according to Mr Tomkins, who continued: “It would be the creation of a new fighting force in Scottish politics on the centre right that is economically and socially liberal,  distinct from the UK Conservative brand and distinct from the UK Conservative Party, that allows the substantive ideas that we have on the centre right in Scottish politics to come to the table in a way that we're not able to get those views to the table at the moment.”

Mr Tomkins said that he did not support the Northern Irish system where there are entirely different parties, saying it was necessary to have some cohesion between the UK parties and those in Scotland, adding: “[The Northern Irish system] means is essentially inconceivable that any member of the House of Commons representing a seat in Scotland could ever become a minister, let alone a cabinet minister.

"I don't want that at all. For UK elections Scotland should remain part of the UK party structure but the Scottish elections [it should be a separate entity]."

Current Scottish Secretary Alister Jack previously supported the idea of a separate Scottish Conservative party, offering to fund the idea when he was supporting Murdo Fraser’s leadership bid in 2011.

At the time Mr Jack, who was not yet an MP, said the Scottish Tories “shouldn’t be frightened of stepping out on our own” adding: “I’m completely confident that we can raise more money for the new party than SCUP [Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party] has raised for many years.”

However asked in 2019 about his views, after his appointment as Scottish Secretary, Mr Jack said the “world has moved on” and the party north and south of the border had made “great strides”.

A Scottish Conservative party spokesman said: “The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party are fully focused on Scotland’s recovery from Covid and holding the SNP to account. 

“We won 100,000 more votes than ever before in last year’s election and were the only pro-UK party to move forward.

"In this year’s local elections, we will be standing candidates right across Scotland with the aim of removing the SNP from power."