By Amy Watson

Copyright scotsman

It was a moment that brought audible gasps from within the main chamber of the Scottish Parliament. Former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross stood to address his fellow MSPs at the end of First Minister’s Questions on Thursday. And his allegation that he was “physically assaulted and verbally abused” by SNP business minister Jamie Hepburn elicited a flurry of noise from those listening in. Mr Ross asks: “I’m wondering if the First Minister will make a statement and take an opportunity to say he has a zero-tolerance approach to threatening and intimidating behaviour by his ministers. READ MORE: Douglas Ross claims he was ‘physically assaulted and verbally abused’ by SNP minister after seagull rant “I have raised this yesterday afternoon with parliamentary officials. I notice the minister for parliamentary business is not in the chamber this afternoon, therefore will he be making a statement on this incident later today?” Get daily political analysis – subscribe for free to The Steamie Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone has subsequently addressed the allegations after Mr Ross raised them in the chamber. The full exchange between Mr Ross and Ms Johnstone is captured here on video by The Scotsman.