FM: Fragile male ego might be behind Johnson’s approach to meetings

Nicola Sturgeon has said Boris Johnson is taking a different approach than his predecessors when meeting devolved governments, suggesting it might be the result of a “fragile male ego”.

The First Minister said most of Johnson’s interactions with devolved administrations were delegated to communities secretary Michael Gove.

She spoke to Vogue magazine ahead of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, discussing the campaign for Scottish independence and her approach to climate change.

Asked about her working relationship with the Prime Minister, Sturgeon said: “He tends to delegate most of his interactions with the devolved governments to Michael Gove.

“That’s fine, Michael Gove and I work together well, but it’s a different approach to his predecessors.”

Asked why she thought this was the case, she said: “Maybe it’s just a bit of a fragile male ego.

“He seems to have a disinclination to be, metaphorically speaking, in the same room as me. It’s odd.”

On her campaign for Scottish independence, the First Minister said: “There’s no status quo: the UK that people wanted to stay a part of in 2014 arguably does not exist any longer.”

She also spoke about the importance of the COP26 summit’s attempt to limit global warming to 1.5C.

She said: “It probably is the last chance the world has to reach an agreement that is specific enough to meet the Paris 1.5 degrees target.

“It’s a massive opportunity, but I think there will be a real difficulty if that opportunity is not taken.”

Discussing the future of the oil and gas industry, she said: “This has not been an easy thing for somebody in my position and in the political tradition I come from to say, but we have to ask ourselves whether new exploration for oil and gas is consistent with meeting the climate change imperatives.”