DAVID Cameron wanted Ruth Davidson to be his defence secretary.

According to The Guardian, the then prime minister was ready to whisk the Scottish Tory leader off to the House of Lords and have her join his cabinet. The only complication was that he had to win the Brexit referendum first.

When the country voted to leave, Cameron handed his notice in, eventually passing the keys to Number 10 over to Theresa May.

The paper, says the plan was for Davidson to eventually “do a Douglas-Home” and move to the Commons – as Harold Macmillan’s successor, the Earl of Home, had done in 1963.

Davidson, who is an honorary colonel with the 32 Signal Regiment, would remain in the government, renounce her peerage, and be fast-tracked into a safe Commons seat. There would be a by-election, and she would then be in the Commons, rising to the top and crushing Boris Johnson’s dreams of leadership.

It’s not clear if Davidson ever knew about the plan.

A Scottish Tory source told The National: “David Cameron would have been hard-pressed to make Ruth defence secretary given she wasn’t an MP, and in fact preparing to lead 31 Scottish Conservative MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.”

Davidson has long been dogged by rumours that she’s going to head down to Westminster to take charge of the party and become prime minister. Speaking at an event last September, she said: “I’ve got a big job I want to do — it’s right here in Edinburgh. It’s at Bute House.” She added: “I live three and a half miles from Bute House, I’m the MSP for Bute House. I want to be the MSP in Bute House.”

Michael Fallon, who was defence secretary under Cameron, was forced to resign in 2017 after admitting that his “previous conduct” towards women had “fallen below” what is acceptable.

His successor Gavin Williamson was fired this week for leaking secret information.