Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Boris Johnson was the only UK prime minister she had worked with who was “a disgrace to the office”.
Speaking at a panel event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Saturday afternoon, Ms Sturgeon said the idea that Downing Street parties were taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic “blew her mind.”
“The idea that this could have happened while the rest of country was going through the horrors of it really blows my mind,” she told audience members.
“Parties themselves are bad enough, but it was the lying, frankly, and the constant attempt to shift the goalposts and the narrative.
“I disagreed with David Cameron, I disagreed with Theresa May, I disagreed with Boris Johnson, but he's the only one who's actually disgraced the office of prime minister. The sooner he's gone, the better.”
Sturgeon gives grudging praise to Theresa May
Four prime ministers have been in Downing Street since Ms Sturgeon took office in 2014, and she joked to audience members at the event hosted by broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika that she never thought she would “look back fondly” on Theresa May as prime minister.
“At the beginning of Covid, I thought, it would be far better to have Theresa May ― she always knew her stuff. She knew her brief,” Ms Sturgeon said.
She joked that Ms May was a “better dancer than I am”.
The First Minister called for more diversity in politics and praised the Scottish Labour Party for having diverse leaders.
She added: “Here's a sentence you'd never hear me utter before: to be fair to Labour in Scotland, they've already had a woman leader and they've currently got a Muslim leader, so UK Labour really has to get its act together on diversity.”
When asked who she would prefer to see as prime minister, Ms Sturgeon shrugged and laughed and said none of them would win an election in Scotland.
She said: “It's not really about that. They will never win an election in Scotland. What do Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson all have in common? They have never won an election in Scotland.”
She branded the choices facing voters in England as “terrible” and accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of being “a pale imitation of the Tories”.
Ms Sturgeon also addressed comments made by Conservative Party leadership contender Liz Truss who said she should be “ignored”.
She said: “I am the democratically elected First Minister and you can only be in that position if a significant amount of people vote for you.
“When she said I should be ignored, what a lot of people in Scotland hear is the democratic votes and choices of people in Scotland should be ignored.
“I don't think that's appropriate.
“People in Scotland are getting increasingly tired of being ignored by Tory prime ministers.”
Responding to Ms Truss's remarks she was an attention seeker, Ms Sturgeon told audience members one had to be a bit of an attention seeker as a politician to get their policies noticed.
Ms Sturgeon also hit out at former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson for entering the House of Lords.
She said: “Ruth decided to retire from politics but then it transpired she wasn't really intending to retire from politics, she just wanted to continue without scrutiny and the tedious bit of having to put yourself forward for election.
“So all of the good bits of politics without the tough bit of getting elected. I don't think that's a particularly good thing to do.”
Ms Sturgeon took questions from some audience members who asked her if it was possible to have a “good-natured debate” about independence.
“Of course it's possible to have a good natured, civilised debate about independence but that requires all of us involved in that,” she said.
“The only appropriate way to decide matters we disagree on is through democracy.”
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
