Tory star Ruth Davidson BACKS Boris and denies she blasted him for not being ‘serious’ about Brexit
The leader of the Scottish Tories expressed support for the Foreign Secretary today
RUTH Davidson today insisted Boris Johnson and her were still pals as she blasted claims she'd suggested he wasn't a "serious" person.
The Scottish Tory leader had been accused of sniping at the Foreign Secretary in an interview where she tore into "over-optimism" about Brexit.
But today she insisted she was on good terms with Mr Johnson, saying they'd exchanged friendly texts about the row.
And she leaped to the Foreign Secretary's defence over a series of interventions that have sparked claims of a rift between him and Theresa May.
She said: "The thing about having secretaries of state and people in charge of briefs is that they absolutely are empowered to talk about the area under which their department operates."
Ms Davidson's comments came in a TV interview today on BBC Scotland.
Beeb newsman Gordon Brewer told her "everyone" had interpreted her "over-optimism" comments in a newspaper interview published on Saturday as an attack on the Foreign Secretary - who she clashed with during the Brexit referendum race.
But Ms Davidson snapped back: "Apart from Boris himself, who very kindly texted me yesterday morning to say that he thought The Times was making mischief and that they would have written that headline no matter what I said.
"And I wrote back saying I think they probably wrote that headline before they even conducted the interview."
In the newspaper interview she was asked about Mr Johnson's unauthorised 4,200-word article calling for a "glorious Brexit", which was said to have undermined Mrs May.
In her response, Ms Davidson said: "This needs serious people to do a lot of legwork and scanning the detail to make sure we do get to a place where it will all be OK."
But today Ms Davidson insisted she was NOT referring to Mr Johnson.
She said: "What I said was, actually, I was talking about commentators. If you read the piece it says 'Davidson says this isn't about Boris Johnson'. You know, I was pretty clear about that. But there are commentators out there, and 'kippers and commentators and the rest who are glibly saying that we just leave and it's all fine.
"The point that I was making is it's the most complex negotiations we've ever had, that it takes serious people to do serious work - work that is going on right now, some of the industry and effort and application that our civil servant are putting in under the direction of David Davis is absolutely astonishing and superb - and that we're making real progress."
Ms Davidson was also asked today about Mr Johnson's demand that new EU rules should be ignored during the two-year transition period - even though the PM has said this is still up for negotiation.
Quizzed on how Cabinet government can work with "someone like Boris who thinks he can go off an a loner whenever he feels like it", she replied: "Well, the thing about having secretaries of state and people in charge of briefs is that they absolutely are empowered to talk about the area under which their department operates.
"I mean, that's like saying you can't have the Education Secretary talking about education, or you can't have the Communities and Local Government Secretary flying a kite over how we can get to build more houses.
"I don't see it as a legitimate criticism."
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Pressed on whether it was legitimate for Boris to say the transition period shouldn't last a second more than two years, or adopt an EU laws during the two years, she said: "Well, look, I think the reaction yesterday to what I was saying is a prime example of how the media are wanting to make divisions where there are none.
"The entire Cabinet - and although I'm not a member of the Cabinet, I'm also a member of the senior Conservative team - but myself, others, the entire Cabinet stand behind the speech Theresa May made (in Florence) as a blueprint for the way forward."
Ms Davidson insisted she does not have ambitions to take over from Mrs May as party leader and blasted the “psychodrama” over the future of the party.
She told a fringe meeting at the Tory conference: “I'm not standing to be the leader of the party.
"I don't sit in the House of Commons, let's get back to why we are here - to talk about the real issues and not about the Tory psychodrama."
And Scotland Secretary David Mundell took a jab at Boris when he was asked whether the Foreign Secretary could boost the party’s appeal north of the border.
He said: “I do recall Boris Johnson once stood for rector of Edinburgh University and you can look at the result of that."
In the 2006 vote, Mr Johnson finished third in the race for the Edinburgh post.