A NUMBER of SNP MPs have hit back at Boris Johnson as he claimed he couldn’t understand some of their accents.
The former Tory prime minister said he would blag his way through questions from the party while speaking in the House of Commons.
He said that he would respond with “very, very general replies” although SNP MPs Stephen Gethins and Pete Wishart have poked fun at Johnson’s claims.
Wishart, the party’s deputy Westminster leader, told the Daily Record: “We always thought Boris Johnson made up his answers to everything he was asked.
“He definitely didn’t need a Scottish accent to produce the drivel that he was renowned for.”
Johnson’s comments came in an interview with former MP Gyles Brandreth on the Rosebud podcast.
Discussing his schooldays, Johnson said he was a “bit deaf, but that was mainly because of glue ear, which was what everybody used to have in those days”.
“It was either that I was a bit deaf, or alternatively, I was deliberately ignoring my mother’s instructions.
“I don’t actually show any particular signs of deafness today.”
However, the former PM added: “In the House of Commons on the other hand, I generally picked up everything except sometimes when certain beloved members of the Scottish Nationalist Party asked me questions I really, really couldn’t follow.
“I would give very, very general answers – the broad brush.”
Gethins, who currently represents Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, commented: “In fairness, I couldn’t understand Boris Johnson’s policies that left us all worse off. So maybe the feeling was a bit mutual.
“When Boris Johnson [above] was prime minister, SNP MPs were pursuing progressive ideas like tackling poverty, working to help business overcome a hard brexit/" target="_self">Brexit and provide opportunities for young people.
“At the same time Boris Johnson’s Conservatives were described as an English nationalist party as it tilted to the hard right.
“So I couldn’t understand why Boris Johnson wanted to make us poorer and more isolated and clearly he couldn’t understand why he wanted to make lives better for our constituents.”
