Deselected Tory candidate says he could have beaten SNP from hospital bed

A former minister who was ousted as a general election candidate and replaced by the Scottish Tory leader has claimed he would have won the seat from his hospital bed.

David Duguid, who was deselected by the Tories in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East over concerns about his health, said he was “as sharp as a tack and well and truly up for the campaign”.

In an update posted on X, formerly Twitter, he shared an assessment from a visitor that “he would have retained his seat” from his bed in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

His intervention came after John Swinney made a general election campaign visit in the seat as the SNP sought to exploit the controversy over Douglas Ross replacing Mr Duguid.

The First Minister said Mr Ross’s decision to stand had left “a really bad taste in the mouths of people in this constituency” amid rising SNP confidence that it can win the constituency on July 4.

It has been reported that the SNP has upgraded Aberdeenshire North and Moray East to a “tier one” target, meaning they will pour extra resources into it in an effort to defeat Mr Ross, the Scottish Tory leader.

The party’s management board dumped Mr Duguid, who has been hospitalised for two months with a serious spinal condition. However, he vehemently denied its claim that he was too sick to stand.

Mr Ross had promised to quit as an MP at the election but agreed to the board’s request he stand in the key target seat instead. The new constituency takes in about a third of his former Moray seat.

But his decision provoked a huge backlash from Scottish Tory activists and MSPs, who argued the move raised questions about his commitment to Holyrood and the party leadership.

Mr Ross announced last Monday he would resign as leader following the election and stand down as a Highlands and Islands MSP if he wins the Westminster seat.

He has since spent most of his time canvassing in the seat, with other senior Scottish Tories, including his deputy Meghan Gallacher, picking up the slack in the nationwide campaign.

Mr Swinney made a campaign visit to Keith in Moray alongside SNP candidate Seamus Logan. He said: “Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is a key seat for the Scottish National Party.

“It’s obviously the seat where the sitting Conservative MP has been ousted by Douglas Ross and I think that leaves a really bad taste in the mouths of people in this constituency.”

In a health update posted on X, Mr Duguid said he had “fully mastered” the controls on his wheelchair and “scoot around” his hospital and sit in the garden with visitors.

The former Banff and Buchan MP claimed that “technically” he could go home but “it would be inadvisable as I have further to go on my intensive rehabilitation programme here in Glasgow”.

After thanking wellwishers for their support, he shared a message from a recent visitor, saying he was “very touched by it”, and it summarised “how I feel”.

“Apart from a little mobility issue, which he is rapidly recovering from, he was as sharp as a tack and well and truly up for the campaign,” it read.

“I think if we are all being honest with ourselves, with the strong team behind him he would have retained his seat even from his hospital bed.”

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Douglas is fully focused on winning the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat on July 4.

“Like other key seats across Scotland, only the Scottish Conservatives can beat the SNP here, end their independence obsession for good, and ensure the focus moves on to local people’s real priorities.”