IAN Blackford has compared Boris Johnson to a Monty Python character as he mocked the Prime Minister following a damaging vote of no confidence among his own MPs.
The Tory leader claimed a “decisive” victory in Monday's ballot, though 41% of Conservative parliamentarians voted against him.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Blackford said: "When I’ve called on this Prime Minister to resign, I’ve always been met by a wall of noise from the Tory benches. I always thought they were trying to shout me down. But, all this time, it turns out that 41% of them have actually been cheering me on."
The SNP Westminster leader said the "numbers don't lie", adding that two-thirds of MPs in the Commons don’t support the Prime Minister and that 97% of Scottish MPs “want the Minister for the Union out the door”.
He continued: "We now have a lame duck Prime Minister presiding over a divided party in a disunited kingdom. So how does the Prime Minister expect to continue when even the unionist leaders in Scotland won’t back him?"
Johnson thanked Blackford for his “characteristic warm words”.
He replied: “The biggest and most powerful and effective advocate of the United Kingdom over the last time that I’ve been here has been that man there [pointing to Blackford].
“I don’t know how long he’s going to last here as the leader of the SNP … long may he rest in place. He is the araldite keeping our kingdom together and I thank him for what he’s doing.”
Blackford responded by insisting he’ll be standing “shoulder to shoulder with our First Minister as we lead our country to independence”.
“The Prime Minister is acting like Monty Python’s Black Knight, running around declaring that it’s just a flesh wound. No amount of delusion and denial will save the Prime Minister from the truth - this story won't go away until he goes away.
"For once in his life – he needs to wake up to reality. It's over and he's done. Because it's not just this Prime Minister we have zero confidence in – it's the broken Westminster system that put him in power.
“The Prime Minister has no options left but Scotland does. We have the choice of an independent future.”
He asked: “Can he tell us how it is democratic that Scotland is stuck 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?
Johnson said Blackford should “respect the mandate of the people”, referencing the result of the 2014 referendum.
He added: “He keeps saying that he wants independence for his country. Our country is independent.
“The only way that independence would ever be reversed is if we had the disaster of a Labour-SNP coalition to take us back into the EU.”
