Nicola Sturgeon called Boris Johnson a "clown" over lockdown

Nicola Sturgeon called Boris Johnson a "clown" in an expletive-laden text conversation with her chief of staff, the UK Covid Inquiry has heard.

The inquiry was shown messages in which the former first minister described as "excruciating" a Downing Street announcement about a second Covid lockdown in England. Sturgeon said she was offended by Johnson's "utter incompetence".

Her former aide said the language showed Sturgeon's "frustration".

Johnson, who was prime minister during the pandemic, has said he had a "friendly" relationship with Sturgeon.

Liz Lloyd, who served as chief of staff and a strategic adviser to Sturgeon between 2015 and 2023, said engagement with Johnson became "pointless" in the early months of the pandemic.

Speaking at the inquiry - which is currently sitting in Edinburgh - she was shown messages from 31 October 2020 between her and Sturgeon on the same evening as Johnson announced a fresh lockdown for England.

Sturgeon said his address to the nation was "(expletive) excruciating" and that the UK government's communications were "awful".

She told Lloyd: "His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere." Lloyd then said she was "offended" on behalf of all special advisers to which Sturgeon replied: "He is a (expletive) clown."

Lloyd told the inquiry the conversation was the result of "chaos" in the UK government. She said the Scottish government had to "mitigate" that because although the restrictions did not apply in Scotland, they had an effect on how people north of the border viewed the pandemic.

"We were clearly not very complimentary about their communications handling that day," she told the inquiry.