Ruth Davidson slams Boris Johnson for 'bad' handling of Parliament shutdown in first TV interview since quitting

RUTH Davidson has criticised Boris Johnson for the "bad way" he shut down Parliament in her first TV interview since quitting.

The former Scots Tory boss quit last week after eight years to spend more time with her family.

Ms Davidson said Mr Johnson's controversial decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks was "done in a bad way" and "looked political".

Speaking on Lorraine she added: "They certainly didn’t manage to take the country or Parliament along with them as they did it, and there’s questions about that."

The Supreme Court is meeting today to consider whether the PM acted lawfully in suspending Parliament.

The 11 judges are hearing two appeals relating to the PM's decision to prorogue Parliament to mid-October.

Ms Davidson admitted she was "not close" to the Prime Minister, adding: "I’m not going to pretend I’ve been part of his inner circle, I haven’t."

In a further stab at Boris she said: "I do think that people can tell, even if they're not political, if politicians are basically telling the truth or not and they can tell if they mean what they say."

The 40-year-old quit last month saying the prospect of another election campaign filled her with "dread" and that she wanted to spend more time at home with Finn, her son who was born last October.

She said she had been "a poor daughter, sister, partner and friend" during her time in frontline politics and admitted she was "hopelessly conflicted" on Brexit.

In the ITV interview she said it felt "naughty" having her first weekend off in the best part of a decade – which she spent walking along a canal in Edinburgh with her baby son.

And she joked how quitting politics could put a strain on her relationship with partner Jen Wilson because they will now spend so much time together.

She said: "This might end us. She might decide I’m a horror to live with!"

Last week Ms Davidson said the decision to remove the whip from 21 MPs who voted against the PM's government in a bid to block no-deal made the party less of a "broad church".

Ms Davidson insisted the group – including former Chancellor Philip Hammond and Winston Churchill's grandson Sir Nicholas Soames – were not "serial rebels who lacked discipline", adding: "This vote was the first time some of them had broken the whip in their entire careers."

Ms Davidson also poked holes in Mr Johnson's apparent tactic of targeting Labour Leave voters ahead of a snap General Election.

She branded it a "pretty big risk" as he could lose an even higher number of Tory Remainers.

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