STEPHEN DAISLEY: The country is sorely in need of more politicians like Douglas Ross

As someone who wishes to have a career as a parliamentarian, it is only natural that Douglas Ross should stand down from Holyrood.

The former Scottish Tory leader has had two stints in the Scottish parliament, but was never able to hide where his true ambition lay: Westminster.

First elected as a list MSP in 2016, he quit a year later after successfully wresting Moray from Angus Robertson in the general election.

His contributions in the chamber made clear he regarded the green benches as the only parliamentary game in town.

If he’d had his way, he would never have darkened Holyrood’s door again.

But events, dear boy: Ruth Davidson resigned, Jackson Carlaw didn’t last long as her replacement, and Ross was prevailed upon to put himself forward for the good of the party. Elected unopposed, he had to obtain a Holyrood seat, which he did on the Highlands and Islands list in 2021.

A leadership entered into under duress proved to be a less than happy one.

He quickly learned that the Scottish Tory group could be a vipers’ nest of briefing, backstabbing and badmouthing.

New challenges: Former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is to stand down as an MSP at next years Holyrood election as he looks to return to the UK Parliament

Family man: Douglas Ross with his wife and eldest son Alistair

Against this backdrop, he nonetheless threw himself with gusto into the mission of holding Nicola Sturgeon to account.

Ross is a very Morayshire mixture of warmth and candour, but it was the latter that coloured his public persona, and the direct manner coming across at FMQs was refreshing or aggressive, depending on your political colours.

Whatever the political bubble thought, the voters seemed to like it. In the 2021 election, he secured the Tories’ highest share of the vote at Holyrood, up slightly from the previous peak under Davidson.

His platform was sparse, eschewing bread and butter policies in favour of a consistent opposition to a second referendum on independence.

The somewhat predictable messaging chimed with those voters scunnered with Nicola Sturgeon’s posturing and refusal to let the matter rest.

After Humza Yousaf succeeded her, Ross proved a challenging parliamentary foe for a hapless First Minister.

He belaboured the SNP-Green coalition on gender self-identification, the deposit return scheme, Ferguson Marine and sentencing. Yousaf was typically dismissive of his opponent, a lethal error for which he paid the price.

Following his decision to rip up the Bute House agreement, it was Ross who tabled a motion to oust Yousaf, calculating correctly that the Greens would be willing to withdraw confidence from the First Minister. Yousaf realised the ride was over and handed in his ticket.

But it wasn’t only Nationalists for whom Ross created political headaches.

He enraged Boris Johnson when he quit as a junior minister over the revelation that Dominic Cummings travelled to Barnard Castle during lockdown.

Later, he called for Johnson to go in light of the Partygate scandal – only to reverse himself following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Keeping his Westminster seat after returning to Holyrood led his opponents to claim he was distracted by his four jobs (MSP, MP, leader and assistant referee).

There are those for whom his leadership was tainted by the treatment of David Duguid, the Banff and Buchan MP ousted while ill so Ross could take over his candidature for the 2024 election.

It prompted a jack-up, with local activists refusing to campaign for a candidate imposed on them against their wishes.

The whole debacle was for naught: Ross lost the seat to the SNP. This episode handed ammunition to the ‘calculating b******s’ he decried at the Edinburgh Fringe last autumn.

These characters didn’t need any help shooting down their leader, but Ross gave it to them anyway.

But the man is more than the sum of his missteps.

Ross’s strength as a politician is that he doesn’t belong to the Central Belt politics graduate mafia.

He’s a farmer, not a strategist, and he would rather spend time with his wife Krystle and their boys Alistair and James than skulk through the corridors of power plotting and gossiping.

He does not daydream about being in an episode of The West Wing. Since his return to the backbenches, he has focused on local issues as well as the spread of gender ideology through the public sector.

We are sorely in need of more ‘normies’ like Ross, and especially those who understand rural and regional Scotland.

Holyrood is no place for someone who wants to debate ideas, shape policy and hold executive power to account. Douglas Ross was right to get out the first time.

If he has more to contribute to public life, Westminster is the only place for him.