Douglas Ross refuses to call for Boris Johnson’s resignation over new partygate pictures

© BBC Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross called on PM to explain himself

Douglas Ross has called on Boris Johnson to “explain himself” for pictures showing him drinking at an illegal lockdown party in Downing Street.

The flipflopping Scottish Tory leader, who first demanded the PM should resign over partygate and then defended him using the Ukraine war as a cover, ducked another U-turn on Monday as photos of the Prime Minister at a booze littered event in Downing Street emerged.

Ross once again minced his words as voters were left aghast by the photos, issuing a statement saying that “to most” the pictures would seem “unjustifiable and wrong”.

Ross said the pictures would make people “very angry”.

He stated: “These images will rightly make people across the country very angry. The Prime Minister must outline why he believes this behaviour was acceptable.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was more forthright.

He said: “This proves that Boris Johnson lied to Parliament and lied to the people.

“He has been taking us all for fools. No more excuses, no more lies, and no more false equivalences – Boris Johnson has to go.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called on Douglas Ross to re-submit his letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister

Cole-Hamilton said the pictures “obliterate the Prime Minister’s claims” he did not know about rule breaking at Number 10, adding: “The public are not stupid.

“They understood perfectly well that the Prime Minister was lying to them. The only people who fell for it were Conservative parliamentarians.”

Scottish Green health spokeswoman Gillian Mackay said the images were “shocking” and “prove that the Prime Minister has lied”.

“Every day that Boris Johnson remains in office is an insult to the millions of people who made sacrifices and had their lives turned upside down by the pandemic.

“If he had even a shred of dignity or integrity he would have resigned months ago.”

A No 10 spokeswoman said the Met had seen the pictures, adding the Prime Minister would not comment until the release of Sue Gray’s partygate report which is expected later this week.

“The Cabinet Office and the Met Police have had access to all information relevant to their investigations, including photographs,” she said.

“The Met have concluded their investigation and Sue Gray will publish her report in the coming days, at which point the Prime Minister will address Parliament in full.”

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