SENIOR Tories have leapt to the defence of adviser Dominic Cummings after it emerged he travelled 250 miles to stay with his parents while sick with Covid-19 during lockdown – but Holyrood-based Conservatives are yet to speak up on the matter.

Jackson Carlaw’s party were vocal critics of former CMO Catherine Calderwood’s decision to travel from Edinburgh to her second home in Fife with her family; a journey that led to her resignation weeks into the UK-wide lockdown.

READ MORE: Dominic Cummings: Tory tweets show why adviser must go

But the Prime Minister’s senior adviser’s trip from London to Durham with his wife and son, defended by Downing Street as an “essential” journey for childcare purposes, hasn’t drawn the same level of scrutiny from them. Or any scrutiny at all, actually.

Both Labour and SNP figures pointed out that Carlaw’s MSPs had kept quiet.

Neil Findlay tweeted: “Where are @Jackson_Carlaw and @RuthDavidsonMSP  - I haven’t heard them calling for Cummings resignation yet?”

And MP Pete Wishart added: "And we now go over to the Scottish Conservatives for their response to the Cummings trip to Durham scandal." The text was accomponied by a gif of a panda sticking its head under a bench. 

Angus Robertson also asked where they were, given their vocal calls for Calderwood to step down last month. He posted: "Anyone heard anything yet from @Jackson_Carlaw and Scottish Tories about Dominic Cummings?"

Janey Godley also had a take on the MSPs' silence.

Meanwhile former footballer Michael Stewart had a suggestion for how the weekend will go.

He posted: "Scottish Tories will remain silent and ride it out.

"Media will state they tried to get them to comment but nobody was available, this will play out over the weekend & at start of the week they’ll all hope things have moved onto something else.

"Job done. Making fools of the people."