Ruth Davidson attacks ‘wee boys’ who want to be Prime Minister

Ruth Davidson has criticised members of her own party for openly pursuing Theresa May’s job while she struggled to hold the Cabinet together.



The Scottish Conservative leader hit out at the “wee boys” who were clambering for the job of Prime Minister, and said she would continue to back Mrs May as long as she “fulfilled her principles”.

Ms Davidson’s comments followed intense media speculation that the Brexiteer wing of the Conservative party was plotting to oust the Prime Minister and replace her with either Jacob Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson.

She said the criticism Mrs May faced was “more pronounced” because she is a woman and she gets extremely annoyed at speculation about “which of the boys might elbow her out.”

Mrs May had shown “amazing resilience” in the face of Brexit and a reduced majority, and Ms Davidson said she would “would struggle to get out from under the duvet” if she had to deal with the same challenges.

She told Holyrood Magazine it was “very difficult as a woman in politics not to get riled by people who, frankly, should know better".

The MSP also attacked political commentators who are “getting very frothy mouthed about this, dismissing a female Prime Minister that’s holding the job, to start talking about which of the boys might elbow her out. I really do find that that grates with me immeasurably.”

Ms Davidson said she would continue to support the Prime Minister as long as Mrs May remained committed to maximising free trade, keeping the union in tact and committing to no hard border in Northern Ireland.