The Scottish Tories suffered humiliation after losing more than 60 seats in the council elections.
Douglas Ross's party faced a "difficult night" at the ballot box after seeing 61 councillors lose their places in chambers across the country.
They lost key seats and saw their share of the vote drop by double-digits in a number of wards.
In Moray and Aberdeenshire there was some good news with gains in both areas.
Many officials blamed the failure to tackle the cost of living crisis and partygate as the reason for the lack of support at the ballot box.
Ross, an MP and MSP, said Boris Johnson can't ignore the results across the country today.
Speaking to the BBC from the election count in Moray, Ross said: "It's been a difficult night and the results coming in today are very disappointing."
He highlighted gains in Moray and Aberdeenshire, but said: "In too many parts of Scotland, we've lost excellent candidates and councillors haven't been re-elected because it seems many of our supporters decided to sit this one out, to protest and not cast their vote, and we've lost out as a result of that."
When asked whether he believes Johnson should lead the Conservatives into the next general election, Ross said: "The Prime Minister simply can't ignore the message that's been sent from voters not just here in Scotland, but across the UK.
"The Conservatives lost Westminster Council last night - that's a council that even in the peak Labour years under Tony Blair the party held on to - so there's been a very strong message from the public to the Prime Minister and to the party."
Former Scottish Tory leader Baroness Ruth Davidson, speaking on Twitter, said the party had to compete against a "40 odd year high watermark" set under her leadership in 2017.
"There's still results coming in and ScotTories have already breached the 200 mark - for comparison, we went into the 2017 elex with 112," she said.
"There were also some real pockets of light, like N Ayrshire where we added significantly to our group."
She also leant her support to Douglas Ross, stressing gains made at last year's Holyrood election.
"In terms of questions of leadership, I know what it's like to lose seats at my first local election, before coming back stronger," she said.
"The Scottish party needs to pull together around (Douglas Ross) leadership.
"Just 12 months go he led ScotTories to its best ever Holyrood result."
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