Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has said the perception former prime minister Boris Johnson is unpopular in Scotland is “false”.
Mr Jack, an ally of the beleaguered former premier who was found last week to have deliberately misled MPs in his denials over partygate, said he had never witnessed any abuse when Mr Johnson had visited Scotland.
An Ipsos Mori poll of 1,000 Scots released in May last year in the midst of press reports about parties in and around Downing Street during the pandemic, and just two months before he was forced from office, suggested Mr Johnson had a net approval rating of -71%, with 83% of respondents reporting a negative view of him.
Contextually, Sir Keir Starmer boasted a -2% net rating while then first minister Nicola Sturgeon had a 12% rating.
The former Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP’s dissatisfaction rating among Scots in the same Ipsos poll never dropped lower than 60%.
Speaking to Holyrood magazine before the Privileges Committee recommended a 90-day suspension from the Commons for the former prime minister had he not stood down as an MP, Mr Jack said: “I think the decisions (Mr Johnson) took for Scotland will serve Scotland very well for decades to come.
“I know the public perception was that he was not popular in Scotland, I understand that, but it was a false perception. I found when I walked the streets with him in Scotland, people were incredibly supportive.
“We never received any abuse in the time I was with him, and we made four or...
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