It’s not uncommon for Conservative politicians to complain privately that Nicola Sturgeon has proven herself to be a better communicator than Boris Johnson during the pandemic. However, it is unusual for a Tory to say so publicly. This is what Douglas Ross did this week in an interview for ITV News. On top of saying that ‘most objective people’ would say the First Minister is a more ‘effective communicator’ than the Prime Minister, Ross suggested that Johnson – who has negative approval ratings – might not be such an asset when it comes to making the case for Scotland staying in the UK:
‘We can’t say that the people of Scotland are absolutely wrong with their ratings on their various leaders so we’ve got to reflect on that and the Prime Minister reflects on it.’
Usually such comments would be followed by a politician backtracking or attempting to provide ‘context’ to calm down tensions within the party.
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