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Sturgeon called Johnson ‘f***ing clown’ in private WhatsApps

Sturgeon’s chief of staff Liz Lloyd tells Covid inquiry trying to engage with UK prime minister was ‘pointless’

By finlay johnston
Sturgeon called Johnson ‘f***ing clown’ in private WhatsApps
Scotland's then first minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomes then UK prime minister Boris Johnson outside Bute House, her official residence, in Edinburgh in 2019 | Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images
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Nicola Sturgeon accused Boris Johnson of “utter incompetence” in private official WhatsApp messages seen by the UK Covid Inquiry.

The messages were exchanged between Sturgeon, then first minister for Scotland, and her chief of staff Liz Lloyd during Boris Johnson’s TV broadcast announcing the second national lockdown in October 2020.

Sturgeon wrote: “Their comms are behind [sic] awful. We’re not perfect but we don’t get nearly enough credit for how much better than them we are.”

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