Scotland’s beleaguered National Clinical Director accused a Conservative MSP of being “rude” and "harrumphing like a child" and described a Labour MSP as a "smartarse” following a Holyrood briefing during the pandemic.
Jason Leitch made the criticisms of the politicians in private WhatsApp messages with Humza Yousaf. They were published by the UK Covid Inquiry on Friday morning.
Mr Yousaf, who was health secretary at the time, said he was not surprised, by the civil servant’s description of his political rivals.
The comments will almost certainly add to the pressure on the clinician. Labour has already called for him to be sacked.
READ MORE: Labour calls for Jason Leitch to be sacked as Clinical Director
In his message, Professor Leitch said: "Just done MSP briefing. They were mostly fine. Very reasonable and predictable. Edward Mountain rude and Daniel Johnson a smartarse. Otherwise fine.”
When Mr Yousaf asked for more details, Prof Leitch replied: “My Mum taught me never to be rude. Mountain was head shaking and harrumphing....like a child.”
The First Minister said Paul Sweeney, another Labour MSP, “will also be one to watch, he will tell you how to do your job”.
Prof Leitch then claimed that Labour leader Anas Sarwar had told him that he was "struggling" with Mr Sweeney and with "new girl Mercedes" [Villalba, a Labour MSP].
Mr Mountain told The Herald: “My job wasn’t to be subservient to the Scottish Government – it was to represent the views and concerns of my constituents.
“Ministers and officials should have spent less time worrying about their sensitivities and more time working to tackle the virus.
“These petulant interchanges reflect very poorly on Jason Leitch and the First Minister.”
Taking to Twitter Mr Johnson said he had only asked Prof Leitch why the Scottish Government was allowing fan zones to go ahead for the football, but was prohibiting nursery graduations.
"If that makes you a smart arse so be it!," he added.
The context here is that I asked what the relevant difference was between fan zones and nursery graduations. The former being allowed the latter banned at that point in time.
— Daniel Johnson MSP (@djohnsonmsp) January 25, 2024
If that makes you a smart arse so be it!
In the messages, Mr Yousaf, who became health secretary in May 2021 after the Holyrood election, also tells Prof Leitch he is “winging it” in the post.
Mr Yousaf remarked that the pandemic meant “everyone is of course a public health expert”, with Prof Leitch telling him: “You actually are. Three weeks training!”
The minister responds: “I am winging it! And will get found out sooner rather than later.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Tories have urged Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone to reconvene Holyrood’s Covid-19 Committee.
The call comes after messages shared with the inquiry showed Liz Lloyd, who served as Nicola Sturgeon’s chief of staff, calling for a public spat with Westminster at the height of the pandemic.
READ MORE: Liz Lloyd: Sturgeon aide denies 'cover up' of Covid cases
The special adviser said she wanted a “good old fashioned rammy” with the UK government about funding for the furlough scheme.
Ms Sturgeon then replied: “Yeah, I get it.”
When asked about the comment at the inquiry on Thursday, Ms LLoyd defended the move, saying it was a tactic to get the UK Government to change course.
“I was looking for a spat with a purpose,” she said. “It had been shown in the past that they would sometimes change their mind if they felt that pressure and I wanted them to change their mind.”
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser said the Scottish Government had tried to politicise the pandemic.
He said: “The last week has exposed as a cynical charade the notion that Nicola Sturgeon’s government was motivated by the best interests of the Scottish people.
“Liz Lloyd’s words and the minutes of the June 2020 cabinet meeting reveal the toxic truth.
“We now know that this was a government intent on exploiting the pandemic to foster division with the UK Government, and then prevent their debased motives being exposed through the industrial-scale deletion of messages.
“Because of their concerted effort to thwart the inquiry, the shifty clique who betrayed bereaved families should be held to account by MSPs on the Covid Committee.
“The shameful cover-up and politicisation of a deadly pandemic must be interrogated at Holyrood.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel