'I would have won election', says former Scottish Tory MP David Duguid, after 'flatlining' twice in hospital
In his first interview since being dropped as an election candidate, former Scottish Tory MP David Duguid says he would have won his seat from his hospital bed
Former Conservative MP David Duguid has claimed he would have won his general election seat in Scotland from his hospital bed.
In his first interview since being ousted from running for the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat, Mr Duguid said he did not find out he had been replaced by Scottish Tories leader Douglas Ross as the constituency’s candidate until it was reported in the news.
Mr Duguid also detailed his illness, telling the BBC the extent of his health problems were exaggerated in the media.
Mr Duguid, who had been an MP since 2017, was taken to hospital in April after suffering a spinal stroke that left him unable to walk.
After being taken to hospital in an ambulance he campaigned to get, Mr Duguid contracted pneumonia and “flatlined” twice due to nerve problems before being moved to a specialist spinal unit in May.
He had been planning his re-election bid from his hospital bed, but was dropped as the Conservative candidate at the 11th hour on health grounds. He was replaced by Mr Ross, who ended up losing the seat to the SNP’s Seamus Logan by less than 1,000 votes.
Mr Ross was forced to resign as party leader over the fall-out from this decision.
Mr Duguid said: “The members of the party that were going to become my constituents were not consulted on this decision, even though it was them who elected me to be the candidate.
“There was communication between me and the party, but not with the members directly affected and who democratically elected me to be their candidate. Evidently, we lost the seat.
“I think I would have won it. I immediately though when I found out Douglas [Ross] was going to be the candidate, and I believe anyone other than me, not because I’m the best MP or candidate but because I had incumbency and the name - people knew me as being a decent MP - but it came to pass it was Douglas, the party leader.
“I thought, that’s going to make it even worse.
“The SNP was not necessarily going to pay much attention to Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, but then threw everything at it all because Douglas Ross was the candidate.”
Mr Ross sent Mr Duguid a text before his announcement, but Mr Duguid did not get back to him in time before his press conference, meaning he only found out about the arrangement when it was reported in the news.
Mr Duguid said a party official told him they did not want him to face the stress of a campaign, but added it did cause a different kind of stress as it was “basically putting me out of work”.
He said no party officials had visited him since the decision to drop him as an election candidate, but that individual politicians had.
Mr Ross said earlier this month he would have been ousted as Scottish Tory leader even if he did not stand for a Westminster seat. The outgoing Scottish Tory leader told an Edinburgh Festival Fringe audience it was wrong to suggest his “heart wasn’t in Holyrood”.
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