A senior Tory MSP has said Boris Johnson will quit as Prime Minister as he is “damaged beyond recovery” over party-gate.
Stephen Kerr, his party’s chief whip at Holyrood, said he was in the “painful” position on calling for Johnson to go.
He also dismissed suggestions by a Cabinet Minister that Scots Tory leader Douglas Ross, who was one of the first MPs to call on the PM to quit, is a “lightweight”.
Johnson’s future in the role is in doubt over revelations of parties in Downing Street during lockdown.
A report by civil servant Sue Gray into the scandal will be pivotal for Johnson as he he faces a motion of no confidence by his own MPs.
Kerr, who is Ross’ enforcer at Holyrood and a former MP, was asked by BBC Scotland this morning whether Johnson should resign.
He said: “I believe he should. I think the Prime Minister is damaged beyond recovery. And I think that, in due course, that is exactly what's going to happen. The prime minister will go, yes.
“I've been a Conservative all of my adult life and I find myself in this very unusual and painful position of actually seeking for a Conservative Prime Minister to leave office.”
On the Gray report, he predicted bad news for Johnson: “I think what Sue Gray will set out is pretty much what we know already from the mouth of the Prime Minister, that there have been events held in Downing Street over the period of the lockdown which were wholly inappropriate, at least, and at worst probably breaking the very laws that the people in those buildings in Downing Street were making for the rest of us.
“I don't see how it's possible to mistake an event in the garden with a bring your own bottle, and groups of people gathering together when there were restrictions in place about outdoor gatherings.
The Prime Minister gave an interview this week in which he said he was not told a specific Downing Street party was against the rules.
Kerr said: “I feel that that interview on Tuesday was extremely damaging. That did not help the prime minister at all. I'm sorry, it was a very sad interview. I felt sorry for him in the worst possible sense of the meaning of those words. “
On Jacob Rees-Mogg’s “lightweight” dig at Ross, he said: ”I can tell you Douglas Ross is anything but lightweight.
He was also asked about the idea of the Scottish Tories becoming a more autonomous party: “We are not discussing any of those issues at the minute. We're getting on with our day job, which is holding the SNP government to account.”
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