DOUGLAS Ross is a “lame duck leader on borrowed time” after suggesting Boris Johnson should stay in post even if he is found to have broken the law over lockdown breaches, the SNP has said.

The Scottish Tory leader was the first senior figure in his party to call for the Prime Minister to go in the wake of the Downing Street scandal.

He had previously stated Johnson’s position was “longer tenable” and submitted a letter asking for a vote of no confidence to the backbench 1922 committee.

The Met Police has now handed out 20 fines to people who attended lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.

READ MORE: Douglas Ross takes back Boris Johnson resignation call in embarrassing U-turn

Downing Street has said Johnson has not received a fine at this time - but also not ruled out that this could happen, saying it would be made known if the Prime Minister did receive a penalty.

Speaking after the fines were issued, a spokesman for Ross said “the current global crisis is bigger than any disagreements we have had” and that destabilising the UK government would “only help Vladimir Putin achieve his appalling ambitions”.

SNP Depute Westminster Leader Kirsten Oswald MP said Ross has “shattered the last of any credibility he may have had”.

She said: “Having marched his Holyrood group up to the top of the hill demanding Boris Johnson’s resignation, he has left himself and his MSPs looking utterly ridiculous.

“He is a lame duck leader, and is now on borrowed time as head of the Tory branch office in Scotland.

The National:

“Just a month or so ago he was adamantly calling for Boris Johnson to be removed from Downing Street over his repeated rule-breaking – yet now he thinks he should carry on in post even if that rule-breaking is confirmed with a police fine.

“It’s as if he thinks we’ll all just forget that he submitted a letter of no-confidence in the Prime Minister just weeks ago.

“We already have confirmation by the Metropolitan Police that the law was, indeed, broken by Downing Street and initial fines have already been issued but Douglas Ross has seemingly decided that he no longer cares that the Prime Minister took the whole of the UK for fools.”

Last year Ross repeatedly called for Nicola Sturgeon to resign as First Minister after a majority of MSPs on the Alex Salmond committee found she misled their inquiry. An independent inquiry later found she did not breach the ministerial code.

Oswald added: “His weasel words that this isn’t the time to pursue such issues is sheer hypocrisy given that just a year ago he and his party tabled a no-confidence motion in the First Minister at the height of the pandemic.”

READ MORE: Douglas Ross won't back Boris Johnson to lead Tories into next General Election

Ross announced earlier this month he had withdrawn both his call for Johnson’s resignation and his letter of no confidence because of the Ukraine war, saying he didn’t care if it made him look like a “lightweight”.

After the fines were issued by the Met Police, a spokesman for Ross told The Times that people who have broken the law in the parties “have received the appropriate punishment for their actions”. 

He added: “We made our feelings clear at the time and we fully understand the public’s anger.

“However, the current global crisis is bigger than any disagreements we have had. 

“In the middle of war in Europe and the crisis in Ukraine, destabilising the UK government would only help Vladimir Putin achieve his appalling ambitions.

“The people of Ukraine have relied on the UK government to be one of their strongest allies in this war, as President Zelensky made clear when he addressed the UK parliament and reiterated in recent days.

“The UK government has the full support of the Scottish Conservatives in opposing the crimes that Russia have committed and helping the people of Ukraine.”