Scottish Tory leader reveals new baby news as he's quizzed on Boris Johnson's family affairs

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has revealed he and his wife are expecting a second child as he was asked about Boris Johnson’s lack of transparency about his children.

Douglas Ross has revealed he and his wife are expecting their second child.

Speaking on Times Radio, Mr Ross was asked to respond to a series of critical descriptions of the Prime Minister from a focus group of former No voters, with many calling him a “lunatic” and “untrustworthy”.

Two male respondents raised the issue of Mr Johnson’s family – “he won’t even tell the truth about how many children he's fathered” – while another said “I think if you’re going to look at someone you should look at family values, and he’s had mistresses and wives and I’ve heard eight kids, it's just a mess”.

Mr Ross replied: “I’d like to use this opportunity to be very clear that my wife [Krystle] and I just had our second scan and are expecting our second child in June, just to make sure that figure is out there and confirm I’m not trying to hide anything.

“The Prime Minister is not immune to criticism people make of his leadership and his style, but the continuance of the United Kingdom should not be based on people’s opinion of one politician. The union is bigger than people’s views on one politician.”

He added: “Some people like him, some people don't, that's the nature of politics. But he’s the Prime Minister of the whole country and is passionate about the UK remaining as a strong union of four nations.”

However, Mr Ross also moved to distance himself from the Prime Minister and his policies during the interview, adding: “I am the leader of the Scottish Conservatives. It’s a very separate entity from the UK Conservative Party, and I think that's right.

“Some people seem to think it’s strange I can disagree with the Prime Minister or take different positions to the UK party, but I think that’s healthy. I’ve voted against the government and I’ve always been my own man. We’re not robots, we shouldn’t always vote the same way.”

Mr Ross was also quizzed about a string of opinion polls which has put support for independence ahead.

“People who think independence is inevitable simply play into the nationalists’ hands,” he said. "I don’t underestimate the challenge we face, but it’s a fight I’m passionate about.”

Mr Ross said there was too much focus on constitutional politics to the “detriment” of other issues, including health and education, which he believed was leading to the support for independence in the polls.

“We’ve seen people move from no to yes, but also from yes to no,” he said.

“A lot of focus in Scotland is on the constitution … everything is dominated by independence. But in my first few months as leader [I’ve] come up with a range of policies which people can see are an alternative to the SNP.

"We're the only party which can take on the SNP and that's been clear in local council by-elections and in the polls.

"Our policies would rebuild our economy, would ensure our schools are better than they have been in the last 13 years where education has fallen down the international rankings.”

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