Blustering Boris

Boris Johnson scuttling out of Bute House like the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz to avoid protesters was an embarrassing sight (Scotsman, July 30).

This preposterous buffoonish jester heads the most rightwing government in UK history. His turbo-charged no-deal Brexit “plan” will cost jobs, devalue the pound, bankrupt business and wreck the economy.

Johnson is rightly despised by millions of Scots. This Eton-educated Hooray Henry can barley conceal his contempt for the “lower orders”. His fiesta of empire nostalgia has almost zero significance. It appeals only to the Orange Order and other half-crazed Union flag-waving knuckledraggers. This group’s only pleasure is to gloat at the idea of Scotland suffering the same fate as the rest of the UK as a result of a no-deal Brexit.

Britain is plunging towards a no-deal exit under conditions in which one study said that the economy may already be in a recession, with forecasts of a ten per cent collapse in the value of the pound and an increase in inflation to above four per cent.

Boris Johnson’s visit to Scotland was very much in the role of Emperor Caligula visiting one of Rome’s rebellious provinces. The only positive from his visit was that it nailed the lies (and they are lies) that Ruth Davidson has any influence whatsoever over UK government policy and that the

Tories’ Scottish branch has been detoxified.

ALAN HINNRICHS Gillespie Terrace, Dundee

After meeting Boris Johnson First Minister Nicola Sturgeon sent out a stark message: she doesn’t believe what he is saying in public and she thinks that in truth he is secretly plotting a no-deal. In other words, she effectively accused him of lying before there is any actual evidence of such a betrayal.

This was matched by her body language on the steps of Bute House: curt, unsmiling, tense in contrast to a polite, smiling and relaxed PM. Of course she had to put up a good show of unwelcome. Anything else wouldn’t have looked good in the eyes of her supporters.

But what if her early condemnation of this “dangerous” PM proves to be premature? What if he, for example, made good on his pledge to make more money available for health, education, social care and policing, thus de facto ending austerity? . Many people in Scotland would probably welcome such cash boosts for the services which keep everyday life afloat, notably any additional funds for Police Scotland.

And what if he actually managed to secure a deal with the EU? One would like to think that if the SNP were serious about avoiding a no-deal scenario, they surely would vote for it. If not, who would then be seen as the actual pursuers of a no-deal?

REGINA ERICH Willow Row, Stonehaven