Douglas Ross … Brave Hero … A Tale spun by Glenn Campbell

Did you know that Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross is single-handedly leading the fight to oust Boris Johnson? That Ross, whilst being taunted by Nicola Sturgeon and belittled by Jacon Rees Mogg, continues his quest to rid the UK of the dastardly PM?

No, well you haven’t been watching Glenn Campbell on Reporting Scotland or listening to him on Radio Scotland. This is the narrative being crafted by BBC Scotland’s political editor.

Ross of course caused quite a stir last week by joining SNP MP Ian Blackford’s call for Johnson to resign.

Blackford was the first significant political figure to demand Johnson step down after reports of an illegal Christmas party in10 Downing Street. The SNP’s Westminster leader made the demand on Dec 8th last year. The BBC reported Blackford’s comments at the time.

Of course nothing happened. Johnson denied all knowledge of any party and instigated an inquiry led by someone appointed by him and answerable to him. The story faded.

That was until the now notorious ‘Bring Your Own Booze’ email. Within hours of the story breaking it was Ian Blackford again leading calls for Johnson to resign. When rumours began circulating that Johnson himsef had attended the party, others joined Blackford.

Missing from the growing list of figures demanding Johnson resign was Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross. Ross had refused to be interviewed on Radio Scotland the following morning. It prompted someone who had been bereaved by Covid to demand the Scottish Tory leader come out of hiding.

Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth davidson, sensing which way the political wind was blowing, had already made clear her own views.

Davidson, who was made a Baroness by Johnson, had already appeared on the BBC and made it clear she felt the PM had gone too far and should step down.

But Ross was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t until late afternoon on January 11th that the MP for Moray surfaced and made a conditional demand for Johnson to resign. If he admits to having attended the party, said Ross, then he should go.

Better late than never.

So it was with some surprise that we tuned into Reporting Scotland on Wednesday to find out that Douglas Ross hadn’t been slow to demand Boris Johnson resign, he’d actually been leading the campaign all along. The person making the outrageous claim was BBC Scotland’s political editor Glenn Campbell.

Campbell repeated the claim on Reporting Scotland the next evening.

That Douglas Ross’s intervention was significant wasn’t in question, but to claim he was leading the campaign was simply ridiculous. Indeed he wasn’t even the first senior Scottish Tory to demand Johnson resign, Ruth Davidson having beaten him to that accolade.

So why create this false narrative?

Late Wednesday evening saw Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg describe Ross as “a political lightweight”. A humiliating remark that incensed Douglas Ross’s colleagues at Holyrood. The following evening Glenn Campbell doubled down on his rather odd take on the situation.

Thursday’s Reporting Scotland saw Ross the focus of attention again. However, the item put together by BBC Scotland’s political editor painted an image of the Scottish Tory leader that bordered on absurd.

Ross was presented as the brave hero, not just spearheading the campaign to oust Boris Johnson but doing so whilst fending off attacks from Jacob Rees Mogg and Nicola Sturgeon. According to Glenn Campbell the First Minister had “taunted” her Scottish Tory rival at First Minister’s Questions earlier that day.

A vox-pop of ordinary folk in Ross’s Moray constituency gave the impression of widespread support for the ‘brave’ MSP. The same vox-pop had appeared earier that day on Radio Scotland. However the version that appared on the flagship evening news programme was different in tone. Something was missing.

The video clip on the left shows the Reporting Scotland vox pop followed by the one broadcast by Radio Scotland earlier. It’s clear there were two strands to the views expressed by Ross’s constituents. Some viewed the comments by Rees Mogg as as an attack, not just on Ross, but also on Scotland.

This strand was edited out of the clip that appeared on Reporting Scotland. The clip that was shown gave the impression that locals in Moray saw the Rees Mogg comments only in relation to Douglas Ross. There was no suggestion that Rees Mogg had exposed Tory contempt for Scotland and its parliament.

The suspicion that the remarks relating to Scotland were removed from the Reporting Scotland clip for political reasons were strengthened when it emerged the programme had also refused to show a clip of Nicola Sturgeon making exactly the same point ealier that day during First Minister’s Questions.

The clip on the left is from that evening’s STV News. So why refuse to show views that saw Rees Mogg’s attack on the Scottish Tory leader as an attack on Scotland? The only conclusion to be drawn is that someone at BBC Scotland didn’t want this narrative to gain traction.

STV News’ coverage of the story was so different from what appeared on Reporting Scotland that we recorded both in full. You can see both items below.

It’s only when you see both side by side you realise just how much BBC Scotland cut from its own version. It shows some rather odd editorial decisions, such as the choice of clip of the First Minister. The refusal to show Rees Mogg praising Ruth Davidson. The refusal to show Alister Jack backing Johnson.

Glenn Campbell crafted an item that portrayed Douglas Ross as a plucky hero taking a principled stance. The wee guy standing up to the Westminster toff and a taunting SNP leader. Someone supported by local constituents and his Scottish Tory colleagues.

It was political spin designed to de-couple Ross and his Scottish Tories from the toxicity of Boris Johnson. It was also designed to imply the Scottish Tories are behind Ross and at one on the issue.

In reality Ross belatedly called for Johnson’s resignation only because his hand had been forced by circumstance. He isn’t leading any campaign to oust his leader. He is following others. The Scottish Tories aren’t universally behind Ross. Alister Jack has backed Johnson. The remaining Scottish Tory MPs have gone to ground. Ross has his own mini civil war.

BBC Scotland’s political editor is spinning on behalf of Douglas Ross. He’s behaving like an editor of a pro-Union tabloid newspaper and not Scotland’s public service broadcaster.

Back in November, when stories of illegal parties in 10 Downing Street first emerged, Douglas Ross was asked if he backed Boris Johnson as leader of his party. Ross replied with an unequivocal “Yes”.

Glenn Campbell would have you believe this is the man who’s now spearheading the campaign to remove Boris Johnson.

It’s worth noting that Campbell has yet to confront Ross on this previous public support for his leader. BBC Scotland’s political editor wasn’t so reticent with Nicola Sturgeon when SNP MP Michelle Thomson found herself falsely accused of property fraud.