Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has said the British prime minister is a truthful man, but stressed he must explain the circumstances around his recent police fine to the UK House of Commons.
Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak were given fixed penalty notices on Tuesday for their part in lockdown busting parties in and around Downing Street at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The fines have been paid and Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak have stressed they will continue in their jobs despite mounting pressure for them to quit.
Douglas Ross, previously one of the leading voices in the Conservative Party calling for the prime minister to quit, agreed, claiming the situation in Ukraine required a stable government in the UK.
On BBC Radio Scotland on Wednesday, the Scottish leader was asked if he believed the prime minister was a truthful man.
“Yes, and he’s dealing with the situation in Ukraine, and he’s dealing with the situation at home here,” Mr Ross said.
When asked if the prime minister’s protestations over Downing Street parties in recent months were true, Mr Ross added: “Clearly not, because the Met Police have decided that fixed penalty notices had to be issued.
“The Prime Minister has to explain why he said that and what he believed to be the case – clearly he thought something different, but the Met Police have been very clear, they’ve issued these fixed penalty notices, they have been accepted by the Prime Minister, they have been paid by the Prime Minister and I think that process is right, that the police were allowed time to investigate this, to come to a conclusion and no one is above the law and that has been proven by the issuing of these fines to the Prime Minister and others in Downing Street.”
He continued: “The Prime Minister has to explain why he said that to Keir Starmer and statements he’s made at the despatch box in the House of Commons, because it’s quite clear now – with the Met Police investigation, the issuing of the fine and the acceptance of that fine by the Prime Minister – that that statement is not correct.”
Mr Ross leaned heavily on the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a reason to keep the prime minister in post, following Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s praise of the UK government.
“Anything that would destabilise the UK Government at this time would be a bonus to Vladimir Putin,” he said.
“He is indiscriminately killing innocent people and I will do nothing to support a war criminal like Putin.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the fines speak to a culture of “entitlement” in Downing Street, adding: “If he had any self respect he would be coming to the House of Commons tomorrow with a resignation statement.”
“Not only did (the Prime Minister) break the law, but he has repeatedly lied to the public, he has repeatedly lied to the House of Commons, and that in itself is a resignation matter,” he said.
“He’s trying to argue that he didn’t know his own rules, he didn’t know his own laws, I don’t think anyone finds that acceptable.”
He added: “They really did believe that the rules, the laws, didn’t apply to them.
“That’s what people find insulting.
“That’s why the public are angry because so many people made enormous sacrifices not being with their loved ones, not being able to visit their loved ones in care homes, not being able to have family members at funerals.
“And you’ve got a Prime Minister who was effectively laughing at them.”
Mr Blackford went on to say: “If he gets away with this, that emboldens him to do as he pleases.”
