5 terrible quotes about Scotland that Boris Johnson really won't want you to read during his visit

When Boris Johnson became prime minister last year, he did as many Tory PMs do and said a lot of rather gushing words about the union between the United Kingdom’s four nations.

But he didn’t stop there: Johnson actually made himself Minister for the Union, a new position that seems to be intended to demonstrate how committed he is to keeping the United Kingdom together.

On his first trip to Scotland last year, Johnson wasn’t exactly well received. Embarrassing clips of the PM meeting Nicola Sturgeon showed him hurrying inside her official residence to a chorus of boos.

Then in 2019 Scotland became one of the only parts of the UK where the Conservatives lost a significant number of seats and their vote share dropped. The SNP, which supports Scottish Independence, won 48 of Scotland’s 59 seats.

And to top it all off, polling now suggests Boris Johnson is very unpopular north of the border, while Nicola Sturgeon’s popularity and support for Scottish Independence continues to rise.

So all in all, there doesn’t seem to be much love for Boris Johnson and the Conservatives in Scotland right now.

This is probably why the prime minister is making such a big deal about his trip to Scotland today, which has been designed to promote the Union.

But there’s a few things Boris might want to apologise for while he’s in Scotland. For starters, this selection of offensive remarks made by the PM, his colleagues and fellow Tories, might be a good place to start…

1. Boris Johnson said Scottish MPs shouldn't be prime minister

Writing in the Spectator in 2005, Johnson said the prospect of former Fife MP Gordon Brown becoming prime minister one day was “outrageous”.

He wrote:

The Labour machine will try, at some point in the next few years, to insert Gordon Brown.

That would be utterly outrageous, not just because he is a gloomadon-popping, interfering, high-taxing complicator of life, but mainly because he is a Scot, and government by a Scot is just not conceivable in the current constitutional context.

Johnson claimed that Brown was "not really interested in British values" but instead in "his personal political disability as a Scottish MP".

Does this sound like someone who values all members of the UK equally?

2. Oversaw the publication of a poem which called for the "extermination" of Scottish people

According to Business Insider, a satirical poem published in The Spectator when Johnson was editor described Scottish people as "a verminous race" who should be exterminated.

The poem, which has since been removed from the magazine's archive, was written by its then staffer James Michie. It described Scots as "tartan dwarves" who were "polluting our stock" and suggested that the country should be turned into a "ghetto" with the inhabitants submitted for "extermination."

Obviously Johnson didn’t write this himself, but at the time the poem was described by Maureen Fraser, director of the Commission for Racial Equality in Scotland, as "very offensive and the language is deeply inflammatory..."

So yeah, maybe he should take this opportunity to apologise?

3. When Boris Johnson said Scotland could “hop it” when it comes to devolution

Writing in the The Daily Telegraph in 2001, Johnson was no fan of devolution (the process which founded the Scottish Parliament with its own devolved powers). He wrote:

There will come a time when the Scots will discover that personal care for the elderly is too expensive. And they will come, cap in hand to Uncle Sugar in London. And when they do, I propose that we tell them to hop it.

Thankfully, nearly 20 years later, personal care for over-65s is still free to Scots.

4. When a Tory MP told SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford to “go back to Skye”

During a debate on Brexit last year, Ian Blackford was in the chamber when he was shouted at by a Tory MP. Several people who were in the chamber identified the MP as Sir Nicholas Soames, Winston Churchill’s grandson, who retired from parliament before the last election.

Catriona Matheson, the party’s chief of staff at Westminster, described the incident as “appalling” at the time. And it seems unlikely that an MP from England would have been told to “go back to” their constituency in this way.

To cap it off, Soames responded by telling Blackford to “grow up” on Twitter afterwards…

5. When a Tory MP told a schoolgirl to “f*** off back to Scotland”

This seems too ridiculous to be real, but British politics never fails to disappoint.

Tory MP James Heappey told a girl to "f*** off back to Scotland" when she said she'd vote for independence if a second referendum was triggered.

This happened in 2017 when the then-Tory candidate addressed sixth-formers at the £12,000-a-year Millfield School in Somerset.

The Conservative, who was contesting the seat of Wells, asked the children for their views as they discussed the topic of Scottish independence. When one girl said she'd vote to leave the UK, Heappey replied:

Why don't you f*** off back to Scotland?

After the girl’s father complained, he wrote her an apology letter and said he regretted his remark. So that’s just one more thing the PM can add to his apology list.

So there we have it: several quotes from Boris and his peers about Scotland that he’d probably rather forget on his trip.

It'd be a shame if people were to remember them...