TORY MP Andrew Bowie cemented a dramatic U-turn on Boris Johnson’s position as Prime Minister during Politics Live on Thursday.
Bowie had previously said that Johnson was in “quite a lot of trouble” and that he thought the Prime Minister “should be considering his position” over the partygate scandal that rocked Downing Street in January.
The MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine was not the only Scottish Tory to be critical of the Prime Minister over the parties, as Douglas Ross called for Johnson to resign over the issue. Ross has since backpedalled on his stance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
READ MORE: 'Boris Johnson doesn't respect truth': Nicola Sturgeon tells BBC's Laura Kuenssberg
The question of Johnson’s position has now been raised again following the Metropolitan Police’s announcement that 20 fines would be issued as a result of rule breaches from the parties.
Speaking on Politics Live on Thursday, Bowie said that it would be “naïve” to consider removing Johnson in light of the crisis in Ukraine and his leadership role in foreign affairs.
He said: “What’s clear is that we have a war in Ukraine where Boris Johnson has been leading the international coalition against Vladimir Putin.
“Frankly, I think it would be incredibly naïve and wrong of us right now to consider removing a leader who is taking such strong action in uniting the West against Vladimir Putin.”
Pressed on his claim in January that the country “needs leadership”, Bowie replied that “we’re in a very different place right now”.
He said: “I think over the past two months Boris has shown that leadership. I think we need to move past where we were a few months ago, we’re in a very different place right now. I think he is getting on with the job in terms of uniting the West against Putin.”
Downing Street has said that it would only reveal if Boris Johnson or his Cabinet Secretary Simon Case had received fines from the Metropolitan Police.
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