BORIS Johnson is like a "sleeper agent" for Scottish independence, according to comedian Nish Kumar.
The political comic told The National that no SNP politician has or will ever make a better case for Scotland leaving the Union than the Prime Minister.
Johnson's approval ratings haven't left the red zone since he became PM, with a recent poll showing 77% of Scots thought he was doing a bad job.
Speaking ahead of his Glasgow Pavilion gig this Wednesday for his Your Power, Your Control tour, the Late Night Mash host said he was “sympathetic” to the indy cause.
“These are two things that I’ve said on stage doing comedy in Scotland,” he told The National. “The first thing, I maintained that Boris Johnson is like a sleeper agent sent by Nicola Sturgeon to make the case of Scottish independence.
“I don't think any SNP politician has ever or will ever make a stronger case for Scottish independence than the existence of Boris Johnson.
“If you were teetering on the fence, I can completely understand how you would look at the situation and think, why are we aligning ourselves against Scotland.”
Kumar pointed to the 2016 Brexit vote, saying the values Scotland holds appear to be “increasingly at odds” with that of the Westminster government.
He said: “I can completely understand how Scottish people would end up leaning towards the SNP, particularly at this current moment in time stage.
“Sturgeon appears to be offering just a much more coherent and mature leadership style.”
Although, the comedian said that he has previously pleaded with Scots not to leave the Union just yet.
He said: “I think it was in 2016 I was opening my Edinburgh show by saying, 'I'm very sympathetic to the cause of Scottish independence but as a spokesperson for the English left I would say please don't leave us with these c****'.
“That was begging the SNP voters in my audiences to not leave us quite yet with the Tories.”
Despite the plea, Kumar said as an Englishman on the left he’s often found himself in alignment with the SNP.
And he said the high levels of dislike for Johnson in Scotland were spreading to other nations in the UK.
He said: “I'm at the Comedy Festival in Machynlleth. And the kind of groundswell for Welsh independence is starting to grow.
“And again, it's actually to do with the fact that Johnson and the Tory party have shown nothing but open contempt for these other countries, and then seem sort of almost mortally offended that they would not want to be aligned with them.
“I do feel sorry for a lot of people in different countries because it must be weird to find out … people in Scotland who are against independence, for them to see the contempt with which they are held by the Westminster Government that they are actively trying to remain a part of.”
Read the whole interview with Nish Kumar here.
