The National:

WITH the First Minister in post and the Cabinet appointed and already working for the betterment of Scotland, isn’t it strange to note the silence emanating from the “others” in the Holyrood Parliament?

It’s amazing what a good cuffing can do to your braggadocio. By any standards, the three Unionist parties suffered an absolute thrashing in the election on May 6 and they showed it in Holyrood this week.

Anas Sarwar had an excuse for Scottish Labour’s abject failure which was that he had only been in the job a few weeks, while Willie Rennie saw his Liberal Democrats lose 20% of their seats – okay, it was five down to four but still a loss.

Douglas “four jobs” Ross has been trying to claim victory because the Tories ended the election with the same number of seats as in 2016, namely 31, but their share of the vote actually went down in the constituencies albeit by a very small amount while it did rise, again by a tiny amount, in the list vote. Ross could actually say that the Tories gained a seat since the disgraceful Michelle Ballantyne defected to lead Reform UK , but that would be stretching it.

The fact is that Douglas Ross’s Tories – and he owns the party if you judge by his mug shots on every election leaflet – made not one whit of progress on May 6.

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The scuttlebutt in Edinburgh Tory circles is that normally such a dismal performance by a leader would lead to an invitation from the “men in grey suits” and an invitation to “do the decent thing, old chap”.

There was virtual despair in Tory circles after Ross’s car crashes in the early television debates – even diehard Conservatives laughed at Anas Sarwar telling Ross to “grow up” – but there’s no truth in the rumour that some wanted Ross to step down even before that.

By May 6, the Jouker understands, Ross had effectively sealed his fate and it would appear his occupation of the leadership may not be prolonged. The cause of that speculation is that Ross dared to suggest that if Prime Minister Boris Johnson was found guilty of a breach of the ministerial code over his wallpaper the the blonde buffoon should “of course” have to resign.

Even if Boris is guiltier than a housebreaker found asleep on the sofa, no-one in the senior ranks of the Tories can dare to suggest that he should have to leave No 10.

You can imagine the conversation: “Don’t you see old boy? It’s Boris who got us here by being the luckiest politician in history and he might take the luck with him, and then who would we get? Michael Gove? Rishi Sunak? Dominic Raab? You see the problem Douglas?”

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Yet given the recent lack of longevity of Scottish Tory leaders, ie Jackson Carlaw, it seems that some Tories have been quietly looking around to see what happens if Ross has to go from two of his jobs – MSP and the party’s Scottish leadership. He needs to stay as an MP as he wants to carry on being an assistant referee, goes the theory, and being MSP and leader means having to do too much actual work.

Could they recall Jackson Carlaw? No chance. What about persuading Ruth Davidson to “lord” it over them? Nope, she’s already on the gravy train of non-executive directorships.

We hate to put The Jouker’s curse on him but one name that has been mentioned is Stephen Kerr, the list MSP for Central Scotland where he was the Tories’ number one choice.

A previous MP, his Mormon religion is always mentioned, but won’t count against him, we’re told.