DOUGLAS Ross has denied claims he is “cynically using the blood of dead Ukrainians as a shield” to defend his boss over his criminal birthday bash.
The Scottish Tory leader admitted voters were “livid” after it emerged both Boris Johnson and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined by police for breaking lockdown rules.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross 'destroys credibility' with car crash BBC Scotland interview
Ross has withdrawn his calls for the Prime Minister to resign and given him his backing saying it “wouldn’t be right” to remove Johnson from office because of the war in Ukraine.
Speaking after a leafletting session in Davidson’s Mains, Edinburgh, today, the Tory leader also failed to call for Sunak to resign – despite also breaking lockdown rules and embarrassing revalations about his wife failing to pay UK tax on overseas income.
He and other Tory MPs have faced accusations they are exploiting the crisis in Ukraine for political ends.
Stewart McDonald, the SNP’s defence spokesperson, tweeted on Wednesday: “Tory politicians taking to social media and the airwaves to downplay Boris and Rishi Sunak’s lawbreaking and lying, whilst also cynically using the blood of dead Ukrainians as a shield, is one of the most revolting episodes I’ve witnessed yet.
“A moral and political sewer.”
Confronted with the allegation, Ross said: “Stewart McDonald has said the conflict has been ongoing since 2014 – and it has.
“But I haven’t heard Stewart McDonald speak much about Ukraine in the House of Commons since then until the conflict has reached the stage it has and we’re in a completely different position now than we were than when Crimea was annexed in 2014.
“I’m not going to get into this tit-for-tat with politicians.
“I hope people understand today that I am speaking about what I think. I absolutely believe others are entitled to their own views.
“Stewart McDonald is entitled to his view and so am I but we will disagree and we will politely disagree because we live in a democracy.”
READ MORE: These five Douglas Ross comments perfectly prove his hypocrisy over Boris Johnson
Ross was joined by Baroness Ruth Davidson while campaigning in western Edinburgh – who has renewed her calls for the Prime Minister to step down after he was fined £50 for attending an illegal birthday party thrown for him by his wife in 2020.
The gathering was against the law at the time and has now resulted in Carrie Johnson, the Prime Minister and Sunak all being fined by the Metropolitan Police following a belated investigation.
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