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Douglas Ross admits to not watching all the Tory leadership hustings

Douglas Ross pictured with Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to a distillery.
Douglas Ross pictured with Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to a distillery.

SCOTTISH Tory leader Douglas Ross has said he has not been watching all the Conservative leadership hustings between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

The MP and MSP has not yet said who he will be voting for in the race to become the next Prime Minister with members of his Holyrood group split on which candidate they favour.

He has said he will “work with whoever” takes over from Boris Johnson as Prime Minister in September.

Currently ten Tory MSPs including chief whip Stephen Kerr and Covid recovery spokesman Murdo Fraser are backing the Foreign Secretary Ms Truss while eight of the group including former leader Jackson Carlaw have publicly declared they support the former Chancellor.

A series of leadership contest debates have been taking place around the UK with attacks on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon featuring strongly.

Last Monday Ms Truss described Ms Sturgeon as an "attention seeker" who should be "ignored".

Her comments caused angry among SNP politicians and even among some Conservatives north of the Border who described them as inappropriate.

Ms Truss's campaign team later sought to clarify her remarks saying she would ignore Ms Sturgeon in terms of independence, but work with "the devolved administrations to deliver on the priorities of the UK".

Speaking to the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, Mr Ross said: “I am not watching every hustings. We have an important one in Scotland and I want to hear the candidates afresh.

“In terms of getting away from it, you can’t, particularly in my position.

“I just hope the contest can be as clean and enlightening, but there have been obviously issues on both sides.”

Mr Ross was roundly criticised earlier this year for changing his mind over whether or not Mr Johnson should remain in post after breaching lockdown rules.

He said the PM should resign though later he changed his mind when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has also remained silent over which contender he would prefer to win the contest which ends on September 5.