Boris Johnson is making a visit to Scotland early this week but will not meet with Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross who has called for him to quit over the Downing Street partygate scandal.
The Prime Minister is due in Edinburgh and Fife on Monday as part of a “levelling up” tour of the UK but there are no plans for him to be hosted by Ross.
The Moray MP was one of the first Tory backbenchers at Westminster to call for the Prime Minister to resign over the breaches of lockdown.
Ross’s attack triggered a furious civil war between Tories at Holyrood and Westminster, with the then Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg - branded Ross “a lightweight”.
The Prime Minister is using parliament’s half-term break to embark on a “levelling up” tour of the UK, starting in Scotland with visits to a manufacturing site and research and development projects.
Downing Street said he will start the week with a visit to a manufacturing site in Scotland before heading to an oncology centre tackling coronavirus backlogs in the North West of England.
But the trip comes with Johnson balancing the need to answer a legal questionnaire from Scotland Yard officers investigating whether he broke his own Covid laws and the potential of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said an imminent attack on Ukraine by Russia is “entirely possible”.
He told Sky’s Trevor Phillips On Sunday: “We have to be realistic about Russia having 100,000 troops now roughly on the border that an imminent incursion by Russia is entirely possible.”
The Tory cabinet Minister also said Johnson is “absolutely focused on the job in hand”, despite being questioned by the Met over partygate.
The calls for the Prime Minister to go will only grow louder and more widespread if he cannot convince police he was not in breach of regulations at up to six events.
He has employed the help of personal lawyers and it is reported he plans to argue he was working in his official Downing Street flat on the night of the alleged “Abba party” in November 2020.
The Scottish Tories have also extended an olive branch to the PM by inviting him to speak at their conference in Aberdeen next month, although it clashes with the UK party’s Spring Forum in Blackpool.
Johnson is expected to attempt to heal the wounds of the rift with Ross by speaking by video-link, either live or pre-recorded, although some Scottish Tories want the PM frozen out entirely.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said Monday's visit would humiliate Douglas Ross and the Scottish Tories.
He said: “If the Scottish Tories welcome Boris Johnson back with open arms, it will confirm once and for all that they are a party devoid of any principles.
“Boris Johnson is not fit to be Prime Minister and he is single the biggest threat to the future of the UK.
“This is a humiliating climbdown from Douglas Ross, whose total irrelevance within his own party has been revealed
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