A north-east SNP MP has rejected calls for Ian Blackford to quit over the handling of sexual harassment complaints against Patrick Grady, as he denied comparisons with the row that brought down Boris Johnson.
Richard Thomson insisted the prime minister was always going to be ousted by his own party because of mounting controversies.
Senior cabinet ministers turned on the Conservative leader after it emerged he was aware of concerns about disgraced MP Chris Pincher, who was accused of groping two men while drunk.
The prime minister initially claimed he had no knowledge a complaint had been made against the government’s deputy chief whip.
Senior Scottish Tory MSPs insist the scandal is no different to the row involving Mr Grady, who was found to have inappropriately touched a male member of staff in 2016.
Mr Blackford was aware of the complaint while Mr Grady served as the SNP’s chief whip in the House of Commons.
Asked by the BBC whether the SNP still had questions to answer, Gordon MP Mr Thomson said: “I’m not sure it does, to be honest.
“To say that Boris Johnson has had to go because of the Pincher scandal – that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was a whole avalanche of unacceptability.
“If it wasn’t this, it would have been something else a few weeks down the line. He’d been writing cheques that his political capital was no longer able to bank for him.”
Mr Blackford faced calls to quit from rivals when he was heard offering support to Mr Grady in a leaked recording.
The SNP Westminster boss told colleagues he looked forward to welcoming Mr Grady back once his suspension from parliament had finished.
Mr Grady’s victim has slammed Mr Blackford’s handling of the scandal and says his life has been a “living hell”.
It was reported that he has been threatened with disciplinary action by party chiefs and had his email suspended.