How Douglas Ross has fared against the SNP as he ends his stint as FMQs pantomime villain

That was almost certainly Douglas Ross’s last First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) – as Holyrood paid farewell to the SNP’s pantomime villain.

We still don’t know the timetable for the Scottish Conservative leadership contest, but you’d imagine the party would like Mr Ross’s successor in place when MSPs return in September.

Douglas Ross at FMQs. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Mr Ross has been fairly effective at FMQs over the past three years – easily able to get under the skin of not one, but three SNP first ministers. Some of his topic choices have raised eyebrows, but if this is to be his last Holyrood hurrah, gunning for the SNP’s record on the NHS was a smart move.

Mr Ross and his predecessor Jackson Carlaw never got close to Ruth Davidson being able to match Nicola Sturgeon. But Mr Ross found success going up against Humza Yousaf at FMQs.

In recent months there has been a trend of Mr Ross and Labour leader Anas Sarwar to go after the Scottish Government on the same topic back to back – most commonly, as we saw this week, on the NHS. This is not a co-ordinated strategy, but the state of the NHS is often the obvious thing to pin the SNP over.

But it wasn’t just the NHS Mr Ross wanted to make a fuss over – drug deaths, duelling the A9, a lack of police officers, increased income tax, and oil and gas workers all got a mention in the final round of Douglas Ross FMQs bingo.

Douglas Ross is stepping down as Scottish Conservative leader (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The manner of his exit will have been an embarrassment for Mr Ross, despite the likely prospect he was going to resign after the election anyway. He is under pressure to win the Westminster seat he is now gambling his political career on. But there has been a sense that Mr Ross has very little to lose in being a menace.

Last week, he left Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone seething for questioning the honesty of the First Minister. This week, she was less than impressed after he branded backbench SNP MSPs “clapping seals”.

Mr Ross’s snipes and soundbites at FMQs have, at times, worked well. That mixed with his often theatrical delivery, branching on pantomime camp when irritated, has allowed him to cut through with the public.

His defining moment came when he played the no-confidence card on Mr Yousaf, turning what the former FM thought was his best day in the job into a complete nightmare. But only 18 Tories turned up to Mr Ross's last FMQs – possibly a gruelling election schedule or perhaps a signal that he’s lost the dressing room.

Douglas Ross at FMQs (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

We don’t yet know who will take Mr Ross’s place. If you were a gambler, as everyone in politics apparently is these days, Russell Findlay is the obvious choice amongst few options.

Mr Findlay spent the final FMQs before summer recess alone in a row of seats, as did Jamie Greene, outcast by Mr Ross for his support of the gender recognition reforms. Whoever replaces Mr Ross will be desperate to use the FMQs platform to try and recover some credibility and bring the Tories back together. Everyone will be watching.