Boris Johnson ignored Ruth Davidson's pleas not to sack David Mundell from Cabinet
2 min read
Boris Johnson rejected Ruth Davidson's pleas not to sack David Mundell from his Cabinet.
The Scottish Secretary was one of a dozen members of Theresa May's top team to be axed as part of the new Prime Minister's brutal cull.
It has now emerged that Scottish Tory leader Ms Davidson personally asked Mr Johnson to spare her colleague.
She pointed out that none of the other 12 Scottish Conservative MPs had any frontbench experience, and that Mr Mundell was best placed to challenge SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon's renewed demands for a second independence referendum.
But she was rebuffed by Mr Johnson, who instead axed Mr Mundell and replaced him with Dumfries and Galloway MP Alister Jack.
The snub exposes the deep splits between the new Prime Minister and Ms Davidson, who has been highly critical of him in the past.
A source told PoliticsHome: "Ruth argued strongly that David should stay while whoever Boris's pick was for junior Scottish Office minister learned the ropes.
"Her argument was that none of the other Scottish Tories had even been junior ministers and that Nicola and her team are astute operators."
It is understood that Mr Jack, who became an MP in the 2017 election, had never spoken to Ms Sturgeon before becoming Scottish Secretary.
SNP MP Tommy Sheppard said: "Ruth Davidson is a busted flush – Boris Johnson has humiliated her and left her authority non-existent following the sacking of David Mundell.
"That was despite her bid to keep him in post, which was completely ignored by the new PM.
"This is a clear sign from Boris Johnson about how little he rates Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Tories. He is ignoring them just as much as he will ignore the rest of Scotland through the course of his premiership."
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