After losing the Penrith and Solway selection to Mark Jenkinson, Neil Hudson seems determined not to make the same mistake again as he faces Tory members in West Suffolk on Sunday.  Guido’s Cumbrian sources tell him Hudson’s decision to continue living in Edinburgh – even as MP for Penrith and the Border on the English side of Hadrian’s Wall – went down badly with his members. Hudson has now set his sights on West Suffolk – a mere 250 miles south of Penrith and 363 miles from his family in Edinburgh – and to make sure he doesn’t repeat his failure to be selected somebody has been cleaning up his Wikipedia page. Who could it be?

Among the deleted history is Hudson’s family life in Edinburgh, and the name of his wife – presumably because poor old Nicola works for the Scottish Parliament. Also deleted are details of Hudson’s controversial selection in Penrith, his Lib Dem brother Grahame, and the time he stood in his local seat, Edinburgh South. All down the memory hole…

Whoever it was who was so keen to clean up Hudson’s past did a poor job of clearing up their own digital tracks. The Soviet-style censor seems to have edited and removed various facts on Hudson’s page … and nothing else. Not everything is so easily deleted, however. Guido has reported before on Hudson’s rebellious streak and unpopularity with his colleagues in Parliament. And then there’s the Commons register of interests, which shows Hudson remains on sabbatical leave from his position as a lecturer at his local university … in Edinburgh. Good luck with the West Suffolk selection tomorrow…

While Westminster awaits the rumoured Labour Party front bench reshuffle, Douglas Ross has been getting on with it, shifting several members of his opposition team. MSPs got a whiff of the impending changes when the “who we are” section of the Scottish Tory website went down this morning… and the Times reported on a few of the eventual changes before Ross himself had even made the announcement.

Liam Kerr has replaced Stephen Kerr (no relation) as education spokesman, in what can only be described as a sideways move from his previous post as net zero, energy, and transport spokesperson. Jamie Greene was also replaced by his deputy Russell Findlay as the justice spokesman. This promotion likely comes as a reward for his performance speaking against the Gender Recognition Reform Bill earlier in the year. David Mundell has been appointed chair of the Scottish Tory campaign coordination ahead of the general election next year. Both Greene and Stephen Kerr are rumoured to have been agitating against Ross recently, with their respective replacements seen as more loyal lieutenants… 

Zhenya Dove’s speech to the Scottish Conservative conference in Aberdeen yesterday eclipsed the keynote from Boris. The Ukrainian-Scot praised the British public and the Government in the fight against the Russian invasion. Zhenya Dove said: “Our wonderful country stepped up and showed the whole world how it should be done. Long before anybody in the EU had time to finish their morning croissants. British anti-tank weapons were being used on the front line to the jolly singing of ‘God Save the Queen’.”

She continued in a powerfully emotional speech: “The tenacity, bravery and unity of the Ukrainian people is something to behold and admire. My countrymen are Spartans of the 21st century, they really are, they’re so amazing. The only thing I ask, I beg you, is please don’t let them die like their spiritual ancestors.”

Scottish Tory conference already had clouds hanging over it following the farce of Douglas Ross’s decision to submit a no confidence letter in Boris to Graham Brady, then withdraw it in light of his leadership during the Ukraine crisis. After finally smoothing things out and securing Boris’s attendance, Tories north of Hadrian’s Wall might have hoped their annual meet-up might now go ahead without any further hitches. It’s not to be…

Douglas Ross today missed First Minister’s Questions because he’s lost his voice and his throat has “seized up” just days before his planned speech. The party hopes he will be able to still make a speech, though it’s set to be “shortened”. Coincidentally Peter Chapman MSP has just deleted a tweet promising that Ross would be a great voice for his constituents…

DT Douglas Ross MSP: RT Peter Chapman: Best of luck to Douglas Ross MSP in his campaign - will make an excellent MP for the area and give a voice to Unionis… https://t.co/YtULnhLSbM

— Tweets MPs Delete (@deletedbyMPs) March 17, 2022

Already the Tories are having to work around this inconvenience. The Stooshie Politics Podcast was meant to have Ross on only to substitute him for Andrew Bowie. What is it about former May PPS Bowie and his leaders losing their voice?

The highpoint of yesterday’s madness was undoubtedly the call by the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross for the PM to resign. Since his demand, 27 out of the 31 Scottish Tory MSPs have formally called for the PM to stand down, though Newsnight claimed all 31 are in agreement. Rees-Mogg then took the opportunity to accuse the Scottish Tory leader of being a “lightweight”, something the PM’s spokesperson this morning refused to say Boris agreed or disagreed with. Though he did deny Rees-Mogg’s comments have undermined the campaign to save the union…

All of this makes it very difficult for the Scottish Tories down in SW1. Scot Tory MPs – rather than MSPs – are caught between a rock and a hard place over partygate. While Ross and the MSPs have the political freedom to cast themselves adrift, for most of the MP contingent it makes more sense to wait for the finding of Sue Gray’s report. While they don’t want to jump just yet, Rees-Mogg’s comments have made their position much more difficult, angering Tories north of the border and resulting in their local activists and councillors demanding they disavow the PM’s leadership. Some Scot Tories aren’t opposed to Ross’s position, not least given he led them to a pretty respectable Holyrood result in 2021, they’ll just be happier to bash the PM after Gray’s report is published…

Ross’s comments also raise very difficult questions about future party logistics. The Scottish Tory party conference, for example, usually sees the regional leader introduce the PM’s speech – how can Ross do that this year? Should Boris stumble through to the next election, how could Ross stand under the guise of getting Boris re-elected Surely now he’s made his bed, either Ross or Boris will have to stand down before the next general election…

Certainly no love lost between Douglas Ross and SNP Scottish Affairs Committee chair Pete Wishart this morning, with both at each other’s throats in the middle of the committee session.

Ross took the first swing in deriding Wishart’s chairing of the committee as ‘quite frankly inept and poor‘, with Wishart hitting back by saying ‘there’s no need at all to make attacks on the chair of this committee…I’m just trying to get on with doing my job without any personal attacks like that‘. Still seeing red, Ross then insisted “when you’re so poor at your job, I will personally attack you…it’s not erroneous if you’re so poor at your job.” Luckily the exchange was held virtually…

The fight came to an end as a furious Wishart insisted that Ross “get on with his poor an inept questions”, with Ross sneaking in the last word to say “hopefully you can calm down now, chair…”. Probably the most entertaining thing to ever come out of a Scottish Affairs Committee session of late…