The Scottish Secretary (left) says the people in Scotland have been “incredibly supportive” of the former prime minister. Photo: Stephan Russo/Pennsylvania.
The Scottish Secretary of State came to Boris Johnson's defense, insisting that the former Prime Minister made decisions during his tenure that “will serve Scotland very well.”
Aleister Jack said the submission that Mr. Johnson is not popular in Scotland was wrong.
Mr Johnson is facing denial of his parliamentary pass after a damning privileges committee report showed he misled parliament over the Partygate scandal.
In an interview before the report's release last week, Mr Jack said he was “regretful of how things ended” for Mr Johnson.
“I think the decisions he made for Scotland will serve Scotland very well for decades to come ,” he told Holyrood magazine in an interview published on Monday.
“I know the public opinion was that he was not popular in Scotland, I understand that, but that was a misconception. As I walked the streets of Scotland with him, I found that people were incredibly supportive of me. During the time that I was with him, we were never insulted, and we visited him together four or five times.
An Ipsos Mori poll of 1,000 Scots released last May showed Johnson's net approval rating of -71%. Former Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP's dissatisfaction rating among Scots never dropped below 60% in the same Ipsos poll.
Tommy Sheppard, SNP MP for Edinburgh East, said: “Aleister Jack must be living on another planet if he thinks Boris Johnson has done something good for Scotland. He has imposed on us the unconditional disaster that is Brexit, despite the fact that a majority of Scots have voted to remain in the European Union, and has taken power away from the Scottish Parliament through post-Brexit legislation, including the Internal Market Act.”
< p> Johnson, 59, who stepped down as prime minister in September, denies wrongdoing against parties held at number 10 and last week criticized the privileges committee's findings as “insane”.
He is believed to have urged allies not to riot in the House of Commons on Monday when MPs vote on recommendations.
“Hostile government in Holyrood”
“I'm not one to hold a grudge,” Jack added. “I don’t smolder over things. But I think I love Boris a lot, I think he's a huge talent and I'm really sorry how it ended.”
Jack defended his use of Section 35 of the Scotland Act to block the Scottish government's Gender Recognition Reform Bill, telling Holyrood magazine that he has “always been a feminist”.
Angus Robertson, Secretary of the Scottish Constitution, said the Section 35 veto and refusal to support the controversial Deposit Refund Scheme “undermined devolution”.
Jack said that the current system of devolution allows the “hostile government in Holyrood” to “push the boundaries” in an attempt to drive a wedge into the Union.
He added that if Donald Dewar, former Labor First Minister, known as the father of devolution, “putting this Scottish law together again, knowing what we know now and not what they thought then, it would be a very different matter.” Scotland Law.
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