Boris Johnson vowed to fight the next general election as he attempted to heal a bitter rift with Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader.

The Prime Minister said he believed both he and Mr Ross would still be in their jobs at the election, which must take place by 2024, despite the Scottish leader demanding that he quit over Downing Street parties.

Allies of Mr Johnson attacked Mr Ross after his resignation demand last month, with Jacob Rees-Mogg calling him a “lightweight”. 

However, the Prime Minister lavished praise on him during a visit to Scotland on Monday. 

He said he “of course” believed that both he and the Moray MP would be in post at the next election, despite some Scottish Tories believing it would be untenable for Mr Ross to ask voters to back a man he had publicly denounced as unfit for office.

‘He stopped the SNP from getting outright majority’ 

“I think Douglas has done a very good job indeed of leading the Scottish Conservatives, and he secured back at the last [Holyrood] election, as far as I can remember, about 100,000 more votes than any previous Scottish Conservative leader,” Mr Johnson told the Scottish Daily Mail.

“He stopped the Scottish National Party from getting the outright majority that they thought they could get.

“Every day, Douglas gets up and campaigns for the Union of our country in a way that is absolutely passionate and I totally share. All I would say is there is far, far more that brings us together than separates us.”

Mr Ross, who became Scottish Tory leader in August 2020, was the only minister to quit Mr Johnson’s government in protest at Dominic Cummings’s lockdown trip to Barnard Castle.

He did not meet Mr Johnson during his visit to Rosyth this week, and sources close to him have insisted his views on whether the Prime Minister should resign have not changed.

However, Mr Johnson has been invited to address the Scottish Tory conference next month and recently sent Mr Ross a handwritten birthday card.

Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader, said: “How can Ross and the Scottish Tories possibly fight an election under a leader they think is unfit for office and should resign? It’s clear that Boris Johnson and Douglas Ross can’t both remain in post with any credibility.”