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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Kathryn Anderson

Perth and Kinross Conservative group leader calls for Boris Johnson to step down in the next few days

Perth and Kinross Council’s Conservative group leader John Duff has said Boris Johnson should not stay in his post “beyond the next few days”.

He slammed the prime minister for his actions and said he had “failed the country, the party and himself”.

The Conservative councillor has called for deputy prime minister Dominic Raab to take over on an interim basis.

Cllr Duff believes Boris Johnson was right to resign and “only has himself to blame”.

The Highland Perthshire councillor said: “The prime minister’s position was clearly untenable, and, thankfully, he has taken the right course of action and resigned. He attributed his demise to the ‘herd instinct’ but he only has himself to blame. A British prime minister must set the highest standards of integrity and trustworthiness. Sadly, Mr Johnson has failed the country, the party and himself in that regard.”

Conservative councillor John Duff (Perth and Kinross Conservatives)

Boris Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservatives on July 7 - after about 60 members of his government resigned - but said he would stay on at Number 10 until the Conservative party elected a replacement prime minister.

Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab stepped in for Mr Johnson only last month when he underwent a minor sinus operation.

Prior to that Mr Raab deputised for the PM in April 2020 when Mr Johnson was admitted to intensive care with COVID. Mr Raab was then foreign secretary.

And the Highland Perthshire councillor believes he should step in again.

Cllr Duff said: “The Conservative party will now move swiftly to elect the new prime minister so that the country can get on with tackling the many challenges of our times. In my view, Mr Johnson cannot continue in the role beyond the next few days and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab should be made interim prime minister, especially as he has ruled himself out of the running.”

Several Perth and Kinross Conservative politicians had been urging Boris Johnson to resign for some time.

Calling for his resignation in May 2022 Strathallan Conservative councillor Crawford Reid called Boris Johnson “a disgrace to the party”.

Dr Reid aired strong concerns about Mr Johnson back in June 2019 when he stood against Jeremy Hunt to become Conservative leader and prime minister.

In June 2019 Dr Reid described Mr Johnson as “absolute bluff and bluster” and added: “I think it would be a disaster for Scotland, the UK and the EU.

“Boris is not fit for high office.

“You only have to look at his CV. He’s been sacked on several occasions for telling lies.”

Cllr Crawford Reid (Perth and Kinross Council)

Following the 2022 local elections - which saw the Conservatives lose control of Perth and Kinross Council to the SNP - Dr Reid told the Perthshire Advertiser : "He's been everything I predicted in 2019.

"It's terrible to be proved right. I would love to have been proved wrong."

Dr Reid - and several other Conservative councillors - believed partygate “without a doubt” affected the Conservative vote.

PKC’s Conservative group was overtaken by the SNP who jumped from 13 to 16 councillors while the Conservative group dropped from 18 to 14 councillors to become PKC’s second largest party.

Last week Mid Scotland and Fife Conservative MSP Liz Smith said she was “relieved” Mr Johnson had “finally bowed to the pressure to resign”.

Boris Johnson resigned as Conservative leader following a stream of government resignations after it emerged the prime minister was aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against Chris Pincher before appointing him as deputy chief whip.

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