The National:

POOR Douglas Ross was struggling this morning – and, as he tries to distance himself from Boris Johnson, it looks like his old words might be coming back to haunt him (it’s not just you, Michael Gove).

Asked on TV to name some of Boris Johnson’s qualities, Douglas was left squirming attempting to dodge the question.

READ MORE: Douglas Ross fails to name one good attribute of Boris Johnson

He has called on Boris to stand down if he lied to his colleagues about Christmas parties at Downing Street and said the Prime Minister’s quiz was “the wrong thing to do”.

Has Ross had a spine transplant, or has he just realised he’ll not be able to use his one attack, “SNPBad”, so easily in future without a few watery words of criticism amid this huge scandal? We’ll let you decide.

The National: Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon delivers a Covid-19 update statement on the Omicron variant at the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh. Picture date: Tuesday November 30, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story HEALTH

It may be the festive season, but we’re not feeling too charitable towards a branch office leader who was happy to see his party slash Universal Credit, throwing so many into poverty. We’re not going to let it be that easy for Douglas to get away with this ploy.

Because it wasn’t so long ago that Douglas had a much easier time talking up the PM – after all, he voted for him in the Tory leadership election.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson hits out at BBC over No 10 parties coverage

Back in 2019, he was writing in The Scotsman about why he backed Boris as leader and Prime Minister.

The now Scottish Tory leader said: “It goes without saying that the two men who want to lead the Conservative and Unionist party are both passionate believers in the Union, but for me it’s Boris Johnson who can deliver most for the four nations of the United Kingdom.”

And: “We need a leader who voted for Brexit, not one who supported remain but says they can deliver the opposite. We need a leader who is clear about the date our negotiations would end, or if we would withhold payments to the EU or not. And we need a leader who would not consider a second Brexit referendum, not someone who previously campaigned for this.”

The National: ANNOUCEMENT: Boris Johnson at last week's press conference.

Douglas went on: “I’ve spoken with Boris a number of times about his vision for Scotland under his Premiership and I know how passionate he is for Scotland to grow and prosper along with the England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“He understands the political sensitivities north of the Border but is determined to work for the whole of the United Kingdom as well as each of the four individual parts of the Union.”

Some parties will want the public to forget these glowing endorsements of Johnson (though we can’t blame him for not pinning down a specific quality even then).

That shouldn’t be allowed to happen. The scandals Boris is enduring now, and the disastrous Brexit, and devolution being at greater threat than ever, were all easily predictable. That Douglas Ross didn’t predict these things and instead gave his vote to BJ as leader begs many a question.

He vouched for Boris Johnson to Scots. And we've all seen what's happened in the years since. No question-dodging now can change that.

As an aside, another lowlight sees Douglas say: “I represent an area with a significant military community and over the last two years have successfully argued with my Scottish Conservative colleagues for the UK government to compensate our service personnel stationed in Scotland who were paying more tax than their colleagues elsewhere in the UK after the SNP made Scotland the highest taxed part of the United Kingdom.”

READ MORE: Tories to cut armed forced personnel to smallest number in centuries

It was revealed earlier this year that the “cap” on UK nuclear warheads would rise from 180 to 260. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that the Army would have its official strength cut from 82,000 to 72,500 – it had stuck at 76,000 for several years.

Douglas cares deeply about the military community … just not quite as much as he cares about weapons of mass destruction, it would seem, from the lack of criticism for this.