Douglas Ross accused of asking staffer to sit outside rented flat for 5 hours for plumber

Douglas Ross has been accused of abusing taxpayer funds after the MP asked his office manager to sit outside his rented flat for five hours waiting for a plumber.

The outgoing Tory leader, whose boiler had broken, asked the female employee to wait at the property in Edinburgh to give the tradesman access as other staff struggled to get to grips with questions over his “dodgy” travel claims.

As the Sunday Mail put detailed questions to him over his expenses amid the MP’s undeclared referee wages row, Ross asked the manager to head out to the house he rents in the capital.

One senior party figure said: “It was ridiculous as the team around Douglas were trying to understand his expenses and whether he had put any claims in while he was travelling for refereeing.

“They needed to see the original documents that had been submitted but the only person who was able to give them that detail was actually sitting outside this rented flat to let a plumber in.

“They were angry that they were trying to help Douglas and save his reputation while he’s got his office manager doing an errand that has nothing to do with his job, during the working day.”

Messages between staff support the claim that the employee was diverted from work in parliament to wait for the repairman.

The SNP, who have made the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat a “tier one” target after Ross announced he was standing down as the Scottish party’s leader, said: “Perhaps if Douglas Ross didn’t have three jobs, he’d have time to deal with tasks that ordinary people have to do themselves - and not be completely out of touch with the people he is meant to represent.”

But the Tories insist Ross’ office manager was carrying out the errand in “personal time” as a favour to Ross who is her “friend”.

They had identified 28 claims submitted by the Scottish Tory leader which they feared were problematic - including trips taken around the time he had been running the line at football matches and for parking.

Some of their concerns were that Mr Ross had told parliamentary expenses handlers he was travelling between London and his Moray constituency when he had travelled to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Ross denied making any expense claims for travel associated with refereeing but quit as Scottish Tory leader the day after our story was published.

After a four day review the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) said they were “satisfied that the claims were within IPSA’s rules”.

First Minister John Swinney, who will head to the Aberdeenshire constituency tomorrow, has made winning there a top priority for the SNP. The constituency had previously been a lower priority but Ross’s recent problems have given the SNP optimism that their candidate Seamus Logan could take the seat.

Ross has said he will step down as party leader after the July 4 poll and if he wins a seat in Westminster he will also leave Holyrood.

His decision to stand for Westminster angered senior Scottish Tories after David Duguid, former Tory MP for Banff and Buchan, had been planning to run for the seat only to be dropped by the party while sick in hospital.

The SNP said: “It’s clear only the SNP is focussed on delivering for the North East. On 4th July, people in Aberdeenshire North & Moray East can vote SNP to get rid of the Tories and put Scotland’s interest first.”

Asked what Ross’s boiler problems had to do with his job as an MSP or MP, his spokesman said: “Douglas and his office manager are friends. She volunteered to help him in her own time to assist with a boiler issue.”

Ross is a list MSP for the Highland and Islands region, first elected in 2016.

He quit Holyrood in 2017 when he won SNP heavyweight Angus Robertson’s Westminster seat of Moray in a shock victory, overturning the then-SNP deputy leader’s 9,065 majority.

After four years in the House of Commons Ross decided to seek election to Holyrood again while remaining as an MP. He was roundly criticised with opposition politicians arguing that it wasn’t acceptable to hold a seat in two parliaments.

Ross repeatedly said he would not stand in the next General Election but just weeks after Rishi Sunak announced the poll on July 4 he revealed he would run again in place of his colleague David Duguid.

Duguid has been in hospital for months recovering from a serious illness and said he was intending to run for Westminster again until he was dropped unexpectedly by Tory chiefs.

As well as being a politician Ross is a top flight referee and has officiated at hundreds of games. Last year he made around £10,000 extra cash from running the line at games across Scotland and in Europe.

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