SCOTTISH Conservative leader Douglas Ross has fallen ill on the eve of the party’s conference in Aberdeen.
A spokesman for the Tories insisted that Mr Ross, despite his sickness, would still be in the northeast for Boris Johnson’s speech on Friday.
He is also still planning to make a shortened speech to the party faithful on Saturday.
The illness meant he was forced to miss First Minster's Questions on Thursday, with Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Jamie Greene standing in.
The party said Mr Ross had taken regular tests for Covid all of which had so far come back negative.
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: "In the past 24 hours, Douglas Ross has fallen ill. His throat has seized up, which has left him unable to speak at First Minister's Questions today.
"He has taken Covid tests each day, all of which have come back negative.
"Douglas will still be appearing at Scottish Conservative Conference on Friday for the Prime Minister's speech, and he will be delivering a slightly shortened version of his keynote address on Saturday."
Mr Ross's meeting with the Prime Minister on Friday will be the first time the two men have met since the Scottish Tory leader called on the Prime Minister to resign over the Downing Street partygate row.
The MSP has since rowed back on that call, saying discussion over Mr Johnson's attendance at parties in No 10 while the country was in lockdown has been put into perspective by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The U-turn saw him ridiculed by political opponents, with Labour accusing him of using the conflict in Ukraine to “go back on his principles”. The Liberal Democrats said he had the “backbone of a jellyfish,” while the SNP said he was "spineless".
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland last week, Mr Ross said Moscow’s invasion put the row about parties in Downing Street over lockdown into perspective.
He said: “I have confidence in the Prime Minister to deal with this situation at the moment. He needs our backing. The UK Government needs our backing. President Zelensky praised the Prime Minister in that historic address to the House of Commons and the joint session between MPs and peers, and this is the focus now.
“So this is where all our resources should be directed towards. We should be supporting the government to support the people of Ukraine, to support the Government of Ukraine, because the real threat to everything at the moment is from Vladimir Putin. It's not actions that took place a couple of years ago, serious though they are. It's the actions that are happening right now with people dying, children losing their lives, and a company being destroyed through no fault of their own through the actions of Russia and Vladimir Putin”
When asked if the change of heart made him look a “lightweight”, Mr Ross said “I don't care. I really don't care. I know political opponents will criticise me for this. That's fine. I've had to take a decision looking at what's happening on the world scene at the moment, looking at the issues that people are contacting me about, people are speaking about."
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