John Swinney has blasted the “despicable” actions of Douglas Ross as he talked up the SNP’s fresh hopes of winning Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.
The first minister said he was “disgusted” by the Scottish Tory leader’s decision to block his candidate David Duguid from standing because of health concerns.
Mr Duguid was Tory MP for Banff and Buchan from 2017 and hoped to contest the new seat even though he had been in intensive care in hospital for weeks and was still recovering.
On Thursday, Mr Ross stepped in and decided to take on the job himself – despite his promise to step down as Moray MP and focus on his MSP job and leadership role.
Speaking in Glasgow during an election campaign event on Friday, Mr Swinney said: “I genuinely was disgusted by what I witnessed.
“What has happened there is the most despicable way to treat somebody who is facing illness.
“I am disgusted by it, horrified by it, I think it’s no way to treat another human being.”
Mr Swinney claimed he is confident that SNP candidate Seamus Logan’s chances of winning the target seat are now “a great deal better”.
The SNP leader said Mr Duguid was “well-respected” by parliamentarians from across the chamber in Westminster.
He drew comparisons with unwell Moray SNP MSP Richard Lochhead, who is taking time off from Holyrood after a major surgery.
The news was broken to Mr Duguid by Tory representatives on Wednesday, just over 12 hours before Mr Ross revealed he would be the candidate.
Mr Duguid meanwhile rejected claims he is “unable to stand” as “simply incorrect”.
Posting on social media, he said it was the party management board “that decided not to allow me to be the candidate, although none of them had visited me”.
He wrote: “They apparently took this decision based on two visits from the party director and without receiving any professional medical prognosis.”
The former MP – who will not be eligible for a redundancy payment from Parliament – added he was “very saddened by the way this whole episode has unfolded”.
‘Mixed’ reaction
We revealed on Thursday that the Tory leader’s own MSP group was caught by surprise.
Insiders said the mood was “mixed” and warned it is “not tenable” for Mr Ross to serve at both Holyrood and Westminster for another five years.
A Tory spokesperson said: “The party management board took an incredibly difficult decision to conclude that David Duguid could not stand at this election for health reasons.
“Everyone wishes David well in his continued recovery and look forward to his return to frontline politics.
“Given the short timeframe to ensure we had a candidate in this key seat, Douglas decided he needed to lead from the front and stop this area being represented by an SNP MP.”
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