Ruth Davidson ‘spitting tacks’ in fresh row with Boris Johnson after he ‘ignored advice’ over Scottish Secretary Sources close to the Scottish Tory leader said Mr Johnson had ‘effectively told her where to go’ by ignoring her advice

A fresh row has broken out between Ruth Davidson and Boris Johnson after the new Prime Minister ignored her advice and sacked the Scottish Secretary.

David Mundell was ejected from the Cabinet as part of Mr Johnson’s sweeping changes to his top team, with the Leave-voting Alister Jack brought in as his replacement.

‘This was the first big test of whether Boris would listen to her, and he’s effectively told her where to go’ The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription. Scottish Tory source

Ms Davidson was said to be “livid” about the decision as she had pushed for Mr Mundell to keep his job, believing that his experience in the role would be an asset to the new Prime Minister.

Sources close to the Scottish Tory leader said Mr Johnson had “effectively told her where to go” by ignoring her advice and appointing Mr Jack, who has only been an MP for two years.

The new Scottish Secretary has already caused controversy by saying a no-deal Brexit would not be “seriously damaging” for the economy and would only cause “bumps in the road”.

The SNP has called on him to apologise, arguing that the “bumps” were likely to include the losses of thousands of Scottish jobs and a nationwide fall in living standards.

Before the latest row, relations between Ms Davidson and Mr Johnson were already at a low ebb after she refused to back him at any stage of the Tory leadership contest.

Showdown meeting?

She also rebuffed his request to appear at the Scottish Tory conference in April, while ahead of the EU referendum in 2016 she accused him of misleading the public during a televised debate.

The pair are expected to meet next week when the Prime Minister travels to Scotland, with Ms Davidson using the meeting to urge him to get a deal with the EU.

A Scottish Tory source said: “Ruth’s priorities remain the same – to ensure preserving Scotland’s place in the Union is at the very heart of this government, and that every effort is made to depart the EU in an orderly way.”

The party’s former head of communications, Andy Maciver, said Ms Davidson was “spitting tacks” over the Mundell affair but that her “personality clash” with Mr Johnson was part of a bigger issue.

He said Scottish Tory MSPs were in “crisis mode” as their own internal polling suggested Mr Johnson would harm their chances at the next Scottish Parliament election in 2021.

“Talk used to be of emerging from that election as the largest party,” he wrote in the Herald newspaper.

“It is now of winning enough seats to stop an SNP/Green majority and the second independence referendum that will have to follow.

“It may yet be an issue of simply retaining enough MSPs to be relevant.”