Politician may lose job after missing parliamentary meeting to ref in Champions League

Douglas Ross is a Tory justice spokesman to Rush Davidson, who serves as the leader of Scotland's opposition party. Basically, it's a pretty important job. But Ross has another job: referee. And he may lose his job as justice spokesman because of his refereeing, according to the Daily Record.

Ross was supposed to be at a parliamentary meeting last week, however he missed it because he was serving as an assistant referee for the Real Madrid vs. Sporting Lisbon Champions League match. Because of that, there have been calls for Davidson to fire Ross.

Refereeing isn't even Ross' second job. It's his third. He is also a Moray councillor and has been criticized in the past for not showing enough commitment to his job as justice spokesman.

In September, Ross was supposed to attend key meetings and a vote over military base closures. But he wasn't available for them because he was at a five-day refereeing course in Switzerland. When Ross was criticized for it, the Tories called it "a one-off problem," but it's pretty clearly not just a one-off anymore.

Ben McPherson, another member of the Scottish parliament, called on Davidson to fire Ross using some delightful soccer metaphors.

“Last time the whistle was blown on one of his refereeing junkets the Tories claimed it was just a ‘one off’. But he’s at it again – and this time it should be a straight red card.

“If Douglas Ross can’t pitch up to do his job, it’s time for relegation – he should either take a step back from refereeing or stand down from Holyrood’s justice committee with immediate effect, and Ruth Davidson should give him the boot from her front-bench team.”

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