The leader of the House of Commons has dubbed Douglas Ross “a lightweight” after he called for the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to resign.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments follow the calls from the Scottish Conservative leader for Mr Johnson to resign after admitting to attending a lockdown party in Downing Street on May 20, 2020.
After being told on NewsNight that 31 Tory MSPs have joined Mr Ross in calling for the prime minister to step down, the House of Commons leader first questioned the reliability of the BBC sources and then Mr Ross’ political standing.
“Douglas Ross has always been quite a lightweight figure”
Jacob Rees-Mogg MP says the Secretary of State for Scotland “is a much more substantial and important figure in this”#Newsnight https://t.co/1eE9taAED5 pic.twitter.com/9aala8jM1s
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) January 12, 2022
In his defence for the prime minister, Mr Rees-Mogg added that the Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, was “much more substantial and important”.
‘Untenable’
While the prime minister offered his “heartfelt” apologies to the nation after admitting he had attended what he believed to be a work event – Mr Ross joined opposition leaders in calling for his resignation.
Yesterday Mr Ross said: “Regretfully, I have to say that his position is no longer tenable.
“He believes that he didn’t do anything wrong and he has put up a defence for his position but I also have to look at the information in front of me and stick with the position I made quite clear yesterday that if he did attend that party, he couldn’t continue.”
Pointing out that former health chief Matt Hancock and Tory aid Allegra Stratton had both resigned after being involved in Covid scandals, Labour leader Keir Starmer led the call for the prime minister to step down.
At PMQs yesterday, Sir Keir said: “After months of deceit and deception, the pathetic spectacle of a man who’s run out of road.
“His defence is so ridiculous that it’s actually offensive to the public.
“He’s finally been forced to admit what everyone knew – that when the public was locked down he was hosting boozy parties in Downing Street. Is he now going to do the decent thing and resign?”
Mr Johnson repeatedly said the Labour leader would have to wait for an internal probe to conclude.
