Nicola Sturgeon called Boris Johnson ‘a f****** clown’ over Covid lockdown

By Democrat reporter

Nicola Sturgeon called Boris Johnson “a f****** clown” when he announced another national lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.

And Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the people of Scotland were “shocked” by what they heard at the UK Covid Inquiry on Thursday.

The foul-mothed remarks were made by the then-first minister in a WhatsApp exchange with her chief of staff Liz Lloyd.

Johnson announced another national lockdown on October 31, 2020, during a televised address.

Sturgeon said the address was “f****** excruciating” and that the UK communications were “awful”.

Ms Lloyd said she was “offended” on behalf of special advisers everywhere.

Sturgeon replied: “He is a f****** clown.”

The former FM is due to appear at the inquiry later this month.

‘Public spat with a purpose’

Ms Lloyd told Sturgeon she wanted a “good old-fashioned rammy” with the UK Government so she could “think about something other than sick people” in WhatsApp messages.

She told the then-FM she had “set a timetable” for the UK Government to answer the Scottish Government on furlough as a “purely political” move in the messages between herself and the former first minister on November 1, 2020.

Sturgeon said: “Yeah, I get it. And it might be worth doing. I’ve sent a rough formulation of what I might say tomorrow.”

Ms Lloyd said the Scottish Government was “clearly not complimentary about their (the UK Government) communications handling”.

She said: “We had to mitigate the chaos that appeared around some of the decisions they took.”

Junior counsel to the inquiry Usman Tariq asked Ms Lloyd if the relationship between the then first minister and then prime minister had “broken down”.

She said:” That overstates what was there to break.”

She said of Johnson: “He didn’t want to be on those calls, he wasn’t well briefed, he wasn’t listening, engagement with him became slightly pointless.

“They didn’t get us anywhere. We started with the approach we should work together, in co-ordinated fashion, but a substantive discussion isn’t what we got.

“The prime minister was reading a script and would largely ignore points made.”

She said Sturgeon’s strong language showed her “frustration” towards Mr Johnson.

Ms Lloyd said she was looking for a “public spat with a purpose” in relation to the UK Government.

It comes as Ms Lloyd told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry she was one of the former first minister’s closest confidantes.

Liz Lloyd has began her evidence to the inquiry at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Thursday.

Junior counsel to the inquiry Usman Tariq asked Ms Lloyd if they had a “particularly close” relationship.

Ms Lloyd said: “Certainly, yes.”

Mr Tariq asked: “Is it fair to say you were one of her closest confidantes?”

Ms Lloyd answered: “Yes, I would say so.”

Nicola Sturgeon was quoted in one report which she made before the inquiry: “I do not intend to give a running commentary on the ongoing Inquiry.

“Instead, out of respect to all those impacted by the pandemic, I will answer questions directly and openly when I give evidence at the end of this month.

“However, in light of recent coverage, there are certain points I feel it important to make clear.

“Contrary to the impression given in some coverage, the Inquiry does have messages between me and those I most regularly communicated with through informal means.

“Although these had not been retained on my own device, I was able to obtain copies which I submitted to the Inquiry last year.

“To be clear, I conducted the Covid response through formal processes from my office in St Andrew’s House, not through WhatsApp or any other informal messaging platform.

“I was not a member of any WhatsApp groups. The number of people I communicated with through informal messaging at all was limited.

“Also, any handwritten notes made by me were passed to my private office to be dealt with and recorded as appropriate.

“Throughout the entire process, I acted in line with Scottish Government policy. I did my level best to lead Scotland through the pandemic as safely as possible – and shared my thinking with the country on a daily basis.

“I did not get every decision right – far from it – but I was motivated only, and at all times, by the determination to keep people as safe as possible.”

Earlier on Thursday, following FMQs, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, left, said: “What has been revealed at the Covid inquiry this week has shocked people across Scotland.

“The attempts to subvert the inquiry and to breach Freedom of Information laws is frankly a betrayal of the trust people put into this Government.

“WhatsApp messages deleted on an industrial scale; the former First Minister using a private SNP email address for Government business; officials openly joking about breaking the law while the Covid pandemic tore through our country.

“The First Minister gave an unequivocal commitment to Parliament, but on his watch Ministers and officials failed to comply with Do Not Destroy Notices.

“Key evidence has been deleted and deliberately misleading statements have been given to the press and the public.

“One specific issue I raised with Humza Yousaf was the use of private SNP email accounts to conduct Government business – something they have repeatedly denied.

“But evidence to the inquiry this week has blown that claim out of the water.   This isn’t just about the inquiry. This is how this Government operates.  Because this is a Party that over the last seventeen years in Government has created a culture of secrecy and cover up.  A culture that goes from the First Minister down.  The SNP believe that it’s one standard for them and another standard for everyone else – because somehow the rules don’t apply to the SNP.

“They have abused the trust that the people of Scotland put in them.  And if they won’t take it from me, maybe they’ll listen to Carole-anne Stewart, of the Scottish Covid Bereaved. She says this: ‘I trusted them, I felt him and Nicola Sturgeon were honest and trying to be open with us and to find out that was all just a facade, I don’t understand how they can hold their head up high.  It’s clear that the people of Scotland can no longer trust the SNP.”