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NICOLA STURGEON SAID Boris Johnson has been the only Prime Minister she has worked with who was “a disgrace to the office”.
Speaking at a panel event at the Edinburgh Fringe on Saturday afternoon, hosted by broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika, Sturgeon called the Prime Minister a “disgrace”.
Sturgeon said the idea that parties were taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic “blew her mind.”
“The idea that this could have happened while the rest of country was going through the horrors of it really blows my mind,” she told audience members.
“Parties themselves are bad enough, but it was the lying, frankly, and the constant attempt to shift the goalposts and the narrative.
“He was a disgrace, let’s be honest.”
Four prime ministers have been in Downing Street since Sturgeon took office in 2014 and she joked to audience members she never thought she would “look back fondly” on Theresa May as prime minister.
“At the beginning of Covid, I thought, it would be far better to have Theresa May – she always knew her stuff. She knew her brief,” Sturgeon said.
She joked that May was a “better dancer than I am”.
The First Minister called for more diversity in politics and praised Scottish Labour for having diverse leaders.
She added: “Here’s a sentence you’ll never hear me utter before: to be fair to Labour in Scotland, they’ve already had a woman leader and they’ve currently got a Muslim leader so UK Labour really has to get its act together on diversity.”
When asked who she would prefer to see as prime minister, Sturgeon shrugged and laughed and said none of them will win an election in Scotland.
She said: “It’s not really about that. They will never win an election in Scotland. What do Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson all have in common? They have never won an election in Scotland.”
She branded the choices facing voters in England as “terrible” and accused Labour leader Keir Starmer of being “a pale imitation of the Tories”.
Sturgeon also addressed comments made by Tory leadership contender Liz Truss who said she should be “ignored”.
She said: “I am the democratically elected First Minister and you can only be in that position if a significant amount of people vote for you.
“When she said I should be ignored, what a lot of people in Scotland hear is the democratic votes and choices of people in Scotland should be ignored.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate.
“People in Scotland are getting increasingly tired of being ignored by Tory prime ministers.”
Responding to Truss’s remarks she was an attention seeker, Sturgeon told audience members you had to be a bit of an attention seeker as a politician to get your policies noticed.
Sturgeon also hit out at former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson for entering the House of Lords.
She said: “Ruth decided to retire from politics but then it transpired she wasn’t really intending to retire from politics, she just wanted to continue without scrutiny and the tedious bit of having to put yourself forward for election.
“So all of the good bits of politics without the tough bit of getting elected. I don’t think that’s a particularly good thing to do.”
Sturgeon took questions from some audience members who asked her if it was possible to have a “good-natured debate” about independence.
“Of course it’s possible to have a good natured, civilised debate about independence but that requires all of us involved in that,” she said.
“The only appropriate way to decide matters we disagree on is through democracy.”
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I bet Boris is saying “here we go again, we’re on the road again……”
@Peter O Donnell: you’d have to wonder is this all part of the plan… BJ successor, who supported his every move, runs the economy to the ground knowing she’ll be shown the door quickly, to make way for the second coming of the messiah
@Connor Coady: it was Sunaks Hawks who helped rallying the markets..
@Peter O Donnell: “we’re on our way to paradise”
@Kieran Fogarty: I was waiting for someone to finish it with were on our way to no10!
@Peter O Donnell: Uh Ah up the
@Joe Johnson: R/A??
@Peter O Donnell:
“Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is flying back to the UK this weekend, a journalist at the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday.
The Times newspaper had reported that Johnson, who is on holiday abroad, was expected to stand in the race to replace Liz Truss who resigned as Prime Minister earlier on Thursday.”
It’s simple really, a large amount of Conservative MP’s think Boris can win them the next election. That’s all they are interested in. If the Country implodes in the meantime then they might just start thinking about people other than themselves. Don’t bet on it though.
@John Quinn: he is supposed to be 2nd or 3rd in the running and probably wont get the support of 100 MPs.
@Paul Furey: hopefully
Based on the performance of the UK govt over the past few years, I fully expect Boris to become PM for the second time. It’s the most stupid and British outcome.
@Cian Martin: That’s one of the best comments I’ve read on this!!
What are they smoking over there ? Absolutely bonkers
@Declan Moran: maybe that’s why Suella Braverman wanted cannabis upgraded to a class a drug..?
I thought that they had figured out that Boris and the Tories only got the big majority in the last election because of all their brexit lies/promises!
@james boylan: yes, but remember this PM election is a Tory party only thing – it’s not a GE, so they don’t care what the public thinks. They just want to figure out who will allow them to stay in power as long as possible until the next GE which they’re slated to lose.
‘The Cabinet minister said it was important to think about “who could win the next election” for the Conservatives.’ Or perhaps who could steer the country away from spectacular self-destruction? Nah, let’s focus on the election
The markets did not like Truss, they will not like BJ The Disruptor. He won’t get back in.
Many thanks for the laugh…..and the popcorn shortage here in Ireland
Bertie Ahern could fancy his chances of becoming the next Taoiseach again if BoJo pulls this off!!
This will invigorate Trump no end
If this was a drama series on Netflix youd be watching it going ah no this is too far-fetched im not buying this nonsense! Bo-Jo back are you serious!! Unless it was an extremely dark comedy…..
The comedy show continues.
I’m really enjoying this ,,pass the popcorn
I’d love to know if Charles said “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear” during Trusses call. ;-P
It says it all about the state of the Tories that when one is mentioned the first thing you have to do is find out which of the many, MANY factions within the conservative party they come from.
Any chance that this was the plan along with Boris?
Oh how funny had the Prime Ministers house been eight house down.
@Keth Warsaw: wha
Key in a bowl at number 10 lucky dip
First rule of The Journal : Always close the comments on a John Delaney story or he will sue your a**.
Second rule of The Journal : see first rule.
Preposterous
“The boss” “dudders” fgs
@Johnny Kelly: does nothing to dissuade us of the notion that Torys are just an old boys club of tw@ts
Hugh Grant for PM
All this talk about Truss resigning and new UK PM and the NI protocol has glossed over something much more important that happened over there tonight….. the last ever episode of “Mock The Week”. Now who will take the pi55
I would say she hasn’t a prayer!!
It’s a set up. Sunaks hawks in the markets drive her over edge. Obviously she destroyed herself, but it was driven.
It’s going to be Sunak. He was runner-up last time, and his helping to bring down Johnson is no longer “recent” politically.
This is as unbelievable as Bobby Ewing reappearing in the shower
Boris back! Trump back! Who’s next Shergar?
It is becoming more and more like “The Life of Brian” sketch “Quitters”.
It is classical British farce and nobody does it better, but this is their government!!
have your say