WITH Tory Unionist supporters lining up for their “gongs” amidst Machiavellian political manoeuvres, fact is definitely stranger than fiction!

The mercurial Jackson Carlaw suddenly resigns and the stringent Douglas Ross is ready to take over the Scottish Tory leadership. Mr Ross was the Scotland Office minister who resigned over the Dominic Cummings affair. Perhaps Miles Briggs, who admitted on Radio Scotland that the UK Government’s coronavirus response was a “shambles”, should be considered. But we all realise that with the blessing of Boris, Lady Ruth will be back marshalling the ever-decreasing Tory troops in Scotland attacking the always patient St Nicola.

READ MORE: Andrew Tickell: Is Douglas Ross any more than Ruth Davidson's sock puppet?

However, with the tragic report from the Office for National Statistics that England had the worst excess death rate in Europe during the first half of 2020, I believe all UK politicians must concentrate on containing this deadly pandemic to the exclusion of all else. Indeed Professor Robert West, a scientific adviser to the UK Government, has said Westminster can learn from Scotland’s approach to tackling coronavirus, “as they have a zero-Covid strategy which appears to be working.”

Grant Frazer
Newtonmore