Nicola Sturgeon & top aide labelled ‘Mean Girls’ after calling Boris Johnson ‘f****ing clown’ in sweary messages

NICOLA Sturgeon and her top aide were last night accused of acting like “Mean Girls” in sweary messages where they slagged off Boris Johnson and plotted a bust-up with No10.

A senior Tory also branded the former First Minister and then chief of staff Liz Lloyd “petty and childish” after their WhatsApp chats were published at the UK Covid Inquiry.

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They included Ms Sturgeon calling the ex-PM “a f*****g clown” for announcing a second lockdown for England on a Saturday night.

And Ms Lloyd said she wanted to set up a “good old fashioned rammy” with the UK Government over furlough — so she could “think about something other than sick people”.

The former SNP leader then replied: “Yeah I get it.”

Last night Scottish Conservatives deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said the extracts from their online pandemic chats showed the pair “acting like Regina George and ‘The Plastics’ in Mean Girls”.

She was referring to the US high school movie, remade this year, which features a bitchy “queen bee” and her clique of fawning cronies.

Ms Gallacher added: “It’s pathetic and shameful that, as the death toll mounted, their focus was on picking fights with the UK Government.

“It wasn’t just petty and childish, it was disgusting.”

The MSP’s blast came after the hearing in Edinburgh was shown behind-the-scenes online chats between Ms Sturgeon and Ms Lloyd, including them mulling over what to do about pandemic restrictions.

The policy discussions emerged despite Ms Sturgeon — who deleted her own texts — insisting last week she did not “conduct the Covid response” through “WhatsApp or any other informal messaging platform”.

There had been anger after she admitted wiping her own messages despite promising in 2021 to hand them over for public inquiries.

But some involving the former SNP supremo were recovered from individuals including Ms Lloyd, although she did not provide any from before September 2020.

In one of their conversations, from Saturday, October 31, 2020, Ms Sturgeon branded the UK Government’s handling of a second lockdown as “f*****g excruciating”.

It came as Mr Johnson made the announcement, for England only, in a prime-time telly statement.

A WhatsApp text from Ms Lloyd to Ms Sturgeon at 6.40pm that night said: “Hitting the 15 mins between the rugby and Strictly to lock the country up . . .let us never do this like this.”

Ms Sturgeon replied that Downing Street’s communications were beyond “awful”.

The then First Minister went on: “We’re not perfect but we don’t get nearly enough credit for how much better than them we are.
“This is f*****g excruciating — their comms are AWFUL.”

Raging at the PM, Ms Sturgeon added: “His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere.

“He is a f*****g clown.”

There was a row at the time over furlough being extended to cover a second lockdown in England — and whether the Treasury’s support could be extended on a different timescale for Scotland.

On November 1, 2020, Ms Lloyd explained she had “set a timeline” for the UK Government to answer questions about furlough.

She said this was “purely political — especially as we expect the answer to be no, it looks awful for them, and creating that kind of pressure could possibly result in a yes”.

The chief of staff added: “Think I just want a good old fashioned rammy so can think about something other than sick people.”

Ms Sturgeon replied: “Yeah I get it. And it might be worth doing.

“I’ve sent a rough formulation of what I might say tomorrow.”

Asked by inquiry counsel Usman Tariq what she meant by a “good old fashioned rammy” with the UK Government, Ms Lloyd said it was an “expression of frustration” that the Scottish Government might not be able to do what it needed to.

Mr Tariq asked: “By this stage, on November 1, you are looking for a public spat with the UK Government, isn’t that fair to say?”

Ms Lloyd said she was “clearly looking to air the issue strongly and publicly”.

But the probe’s chair, Baroness Hallett, said to Ms Lloyd: “You were looking for a public spat?”

Ms Lloyd replied: “I was looking for a public spat for a purpose. A public spat could often deliver results if the public pressure on the UK Government was there.”

Earlier, extracts were shown on screen of WhatsApp chats between Ms Sturgeon and Ms Lloyd about policies such as numbers allowed at weddings and the so-called “rule of six” for household gatherings.

Texts showed them discussing whether Scotland’s curbs should remain tougher than in England.

One was on September 22, 2020 — just eight days after the Scottish Government announced 20 people would be allowed at events.

At 12.09pm, Ms Sturgeon wrote: “We haven’t thought about weddings. They [UK Government] are reducing but not sure what to.”

Ms Lloyd replied: “I think as we only just put them up just leave it.

“They aren’t reducing churches etc as far as I know and I think, though will check, that they were higher than us.”

Mr Tariq suggested it was “an example of decisions being taken on the hoof”.

Ms Lloyd rejected this.

Another exchange showed her and Ms Sturgeon discussing limits on household restrictions on March 15, 2021, and suggesting various dates for easing the curbs.

At Holyrood, Scots Tory boss Douglas Ross said the messages confirmed “the SNP made some crucial Covid decisions for purely political reasons”.

But First Minister Humza Yousaf hit back: “I reject the charge in its entirety. I know our motivation, every step of the way, was to ensure we kept the people of this country safe.”

Ms Lloyd declined to answer questions from reporters as she left yesterday’s hearing.

She said she hoped her evidence had been “helpful to everyone who is looking for answers”.