JACKSON Carlaw was accused of insulting "practically every woman in the country" after he made a joke about Nicola Sturgeon’s hair colour.
The First Minister and the interim Tory leader clashed during Tuesday’s Programme for Government, with Carlaw accusing Sturgeon of hypocrisy on climate change.
Responding, the First Minister said: “Jackson Carlaw just criticised me for visiting Edinburgh Airport, but in his press release today he criticised us for not going ahead with cutting air passenger duty tax, so he's got to decide which side of the climate change debate Jackson Carlaw is on.”
She added: “I think it is probably embarrassment that is making his face go a little bit red when he looks at the achievements of this government compared to the achievement of his own party which is so obsessed with Brexit it's forgotten how to do anything else."
Carlaw responded: “Not my skin tone again. Listen First Minister, at least I've got a full head of my own naturally coloured hair.”
The remark left MSPs reeling, with Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh calling for order.
Sturgeon responded: “Let's not gloss over the fact that within a matter days of losing their female leader, the interim leader has managed to insult practically every woman in the country with that I would say rather ill advise quip at the start of his rather ill advised rant.”
Mackintosh admonished the MSPs encouraging the First Minister and all members “not to make personal quips”.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie said he hoped parliamentarians wouldn’t be judged on the quality or colour of their hair.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel