Boris Johnson is 56 years old. He has been the prime minister for almost a year but somehow, someway he believes that there is no border between England and Scotland.

A row has escalated between Johnson and Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon after she said that she will not rule out the possibility of imposing quarantine measures on people entering Scotland from other parts of the UK. An angered Johnson then lashed out at Sturgeon in PMQs on Wednesday and astonishingly said in response to a question from Tory MP Andrew Bowie, who is incidentally the MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine :

There have been no such discussions with the Scottish administration about that but I would point out to what he knows very well – there is no such thing as a border between England and Scotland.

Where to start with this?!

There is obviously a border between England and Scotland, otherwise, as Sturgeon put it, 'there would be no jurisdiction on her powers' and great footballers like Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness would have played for England (that's just an example, don't hate us as well Scotland). In fact there has been an established Anglo-Scottish in place since 973.

Johnson might have been referring to the fact that there is are no border checks for anyone travelling between the two countries but this is basic pre-GCSE geography and the prime minister has found himself being ridiculed for such an absurd suggestion.

Bowie did offer a response to Sturgeon, adding that the PM is right and that imposing a quarantine would be 'very unhelpful' for the Scottish tourism industry.

This whole fiasco is unlikely to quieten talks of another Scottish independence referendum, especially with Brexit nearing completion.

We're not sure when Johnson last went to Scotland but we can guarantee that he is likely to receive a warm welcome when he next decides to travel north of the border.

Please log in or register to upvote this article
The Conversation (0)