Ian Blackford slams Boris Johnson with a well-timed Monty Python reference during PMQs

There’s usually something noteworthy happening when Ian Blackford is asking a question during PMQs, and on Wednesday he made a well-timed Monty Python reference during a swipe at Boris Johnson.

The SNP Westminster leader spoke about the impact of the recent confidence vote and compared the PM to the Black Knight – a comedy character from the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

The film sees the Knight get all of his limbs chopped off in battle, before claiming that the mortal injuries are mere 'flesh wounds'.

It comes after Johnson won a confidence vote by a slim margin on Monday, despite a rebellion from 41 per cent of his MPs.

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Blackford said during Wednesday’s PMQs: “Week after week I’ve called on this Prime Minister to resign. I’ve been met with a wall of noise from the Tory benches. I thought they were trying to shout me down… when all this time it turns out that 41 per cent of them have been cheering me on.

“Let’s be clear, at least the numbers don’t lie. Forty-one per cent of his own MPs have no confidence in him. Sixty-six [per cent] of MPs across the House don’t support him, and 97 per cent of Scottish MPs want the minister for the union shown the door.

“We now have a lame duck Prime Minister presiding over a divided party in a disunited kingdom. How does the Prime Minister expect to continue when even unionist leaders in Scotland won’t back him?”

Johnson then replied by saying: “The biggest and most powerful and effective advocate of the United Kingdom over the … time that I’ve been in… has been that man there.

“I don’t know how long he’s going to last here as leader of the SNP… long may he rest in place.”

Monty Python - The Black Knight - Tis But A Scratchwww.youtube.com

Throwing out the Monty Python reference, Blackford then said: “The Prime Minister is acting like Monty Python’s black knight, running around declaring it’s just a flesh wound. And no amount of delusion and denial will save the Prime Minister from the truth: this story won’t go away until he goes away.”

He asked: “Can the Prime Minister tell us how it is democratic that Scotland is struck with a Prime Minister we don’t trust, a Conservative Party we don’t support, and Tory governments we haven’t voted for since 1955?”

“We had a referendum, as I’ve told the House before, in 2014,” Johnson replied. “I think he should respect the mandate of the people.

“He keeps saying he wants independence for his country. Our country is independent… and the only way that independence would ever be reversed would be if we had the disaster of a Labour-SNP coalition to take us back into the EU.”