RUTH Davidson made her Have I Got News For You debut with a series of jokes about Scotland's rugby defeat and Edinburgh's pandas that appeared to win over even her political opponents' supporters.

The Scottish Conservatives leader became the first Scots politician to appear on the satirical quiz show since the late Charles Kennedy in 2009 and had previously admitted to being "terrified" at the prospect.

She sat on the panel with Paul Merton and was introduced by actor Michael Sheen as a politician whose hobbies including hiking. "In fact, she's never happier than when she's walking 500 miles," the host joked.

When discussing Scotland’s controversial exit from the Rugby World Cup and the match-winning last minute penalty award for Australia by Craig Joubert that World Rugby said should not have been given, she said she hoped the South African referee does not referee another Scotland game again.

Sheen asks her:"Everyone makes mistakes, is all forgiven?"

Davidson ponders and says: "Yes, as long as he never referees for us again."

The Herald:

When Sheen points out a tweeted reaction where she says, "you are ******* kidding me" she explains through laughter that "we may have been enjoying a convivial atmosphere in Edinburgh's finest wining and dining establishments for seven hours before that tweet was sent".

The joke was further on the Scots Tory leader when they showed at tweet in which she said: "I think I (heart symbol) Greg Laidlaw. In a way that we'd both find uncomfortable."

 

Sheen quipped: "That would be quite a conversion."

Ms Davidson, who on Wednesday was named politician of the year at by gay news service PinkNews, quickly hit back: "There are a lot of people who tweeted back, especially heterosexual married men, who said they felt the same."

The Herald:

After being shown clips of President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK, Ms Davidson remarked that Scotland "came out of it pretty well" and referred to the moment Scots journalist Laura Kuenssberg asked the premier about his country's "deeply troubling attitude to human right".

Davidson added: "Laura Kuenssberg absolutely nailed the Chinese premier to the wall. What a question she asked. We got a £2 billion bus deal and we got to keep our pandas.

"Nobody's taking our pandas. They're not very fertile but we still love them."

 

 

Ms Davidson was filmed several times in fits of laughter at the other panellists' jokes and when comedian Job Richardson made a crude joke about Alex Salmond, she was heard giggling: "Oh no."

And she became the butt of the joke when HIGNFY replayed a gaffe when she said: "It's the stability that's got our country back on crack".

The only more muted moment came when she was directly questioned about the Conservatives' policy on tax credits after comments made by  George Osborne signalling a potential cut.

The Herald:

Asked whether she thought the chancellor should perform a u-turn, she replied: "I would like to see some movement by the autumn statement."

When asked whether she would be viewing the show, she had tweeted earlier: "#NotAChance".

The Herald:

But her debut appeared to go down well with the audience, with a large positive response from the viewers posting online.

The Herald:

One wrote: "After watching Have I Got News For You (and the rugby) you are officially my favourite Tory...actually the only Tory I like."

Another said: "Loving Ruth Davidson's 'trying to stop giggling' face."

One wrote: "I wish Ruth Davidson was one of ours - Labour, I mean. She's fabulous on #HIGNFY."

The Herald:

Another added: "Don't usually agree with a Tory, but loved Ruth Davidson on #HIGNFY. Refreshing to see a politician be funny, graceful and honest."

The late Lib Dem MP Charles Kennedy clocked up a host of HIGNFY appearances, and became one of the most popular politicians to appear on the show, with a grand total of nine appearances between 1992 and 2009, including one where he was the guest host.

The only other Scots politicians to appear on the show are David Steel, Alex Salmond and Robin Cook.