DOUGLAS Ross has called an emergency press conference to deliver an “election announcement”.
It comes following the news that former Scotland Office minister David Duguid has said he has not been selected to stand for the Conservatives at the upcoming election.
In a post on social media, he said the party had informed him his name will not be put forward as a candidate in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.
On the morning of Thursday, June 6, a number of journalists took to social media to share that Ross had called a last-minute press conference with reports that it related to Duguid not standing.
Duguid has recently suffered ill-health and has spent four weeks in the intensive care unit at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary due to an illness affecting his spine.
Writing on Twitter/X, he said: “Notwithstanding this, and despite my having been adopted by our local members, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party has informed me tonight that they have decided not to put me forward as their chosen candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.”
Duguid had been the MP for Banff and Buchan since 2017, when he won the seat from the SNP’s Eilidh Whiteford.
Following a review of boundaries, the seat was expanded to include parts of Moray and renamed Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.
Ross has previously announced that he would not be standing to be an MP at this election.
On Duguid, a spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives said: “David Duguid is unfortunately unable to stand in this election.
“David has been an excellent MP and great local representative for the last seven years.
“We thank David for all his hard work for the party, we look forward to his recovery to full health, and hope that he will want to rejoin frontline politics in the future.”
Duguid first shared news of his illness in May after having been in hospital for six weeks.
