Nicola Sturgeon has hit back after Boris Johnson allegedly called the first minister “that bloody Wee Jimmy Krankie woman” during a heated meeting about the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Appearing at a climate event in London on Tuesday afternoon, Ms Sturgeon warned “if Boris Johnson wants to make personal insults against me, I’m a big enough girl to make personal insults against him back”.
The first minister went on to call for calm, however, saying she would like to see a “reset” in relations between the UK and Scottish governments.
“There are plenty of issues Boris Johnson and I can have squabbles about. This really, really should not be one of them”, she said.
The petty war has its roots in Mr Johnson’s boast at the Tory conference that he wanted to see the Union flag flying over the climate change conference.
In response, the Scottish Government booked out the prestigious Glasgow Science Centre, which sits over the River Clyde from the main COP26 venue, and suggested a Saltire would be raised.
Asked about the tit-for-tat row, Ms Sturgeon said it was “ridiculous”.
She said: “After the UK Government booked the accommodation for the COP site on the north side of the Clyde and after they had done that, we decided it would be good to have a Scottish Government presence so we booked the Glasgow Science Centre and we entered into a partnership with them which is a facility on the south side of the Clyde.
“They then decided they would want to extend the COP site over the river and take in the science centre. We’ve always been happy to have a discussion with them about how that is used but the idea that we did that to get in the way of the planning of that is just ridiculous.
“I think these issues, we shouldn’t be talking about these issues and I am absolutely, not just willing but really keen, if there is a sense of squabbles or not working constructively let’s reset that and just move forward in the right spirit.”
In her speech, the first minister said Scotland had world leading targets to cut emissions to net zero by 2045, had produced a budget that would help the country move swiftly towards that, and added that the shift must be done in a way that was fair to people.
The UN-led summit is due to take place at the Scottish Events Campus between November 9 and November 19.
