BORIS Johnson has praised the Scottish Conservatives for depriving the SNP and ‘twinkle toes’ of a majority in Holyrood.

The Prime Minister spoke at a raucous reception last night for Scottish Conservatives at the party’s conference in Manchester.

He said he was delighted to finally be able to attend an event in person where delegates could “shake hands and exchange bodily fluids”, while congratulating Douglas Ross and his Holyrood colleagues of a “heroic act” in May’s elections.

Greeted with applause by attendees, the Prime Minister said: “ It is the first time I’ve been able to thank you all in person for the heroic act of depriving the SNP of the majority they so craved.” 

He attacked the independence movement, saying the “gilt is coming off the gingerbread of Scottish nationalists” and the “lustre is coming off old twinkle toes.”

Asked by reporters who he was referring to, the Prime Minister laughed before saying twinkle toes was a reference to former First minister Alex Salmond.

The PM also lashed out at Labour, saying the only way Keir Starmer’s party could get in to power would be through a “crackpot coalition” with the “Scottish Nationalist Party”.

He said: “We can’t let it happen. How can we trust the government of our country to that deeply divided party that doesn’t know where it's going, basically a mob of Corbynista lefties apathetically directed by an Islingtonian cabal.” 

The Prime Minister added: “If we’d listened to Captain Hindsight on July 19th this country would still be in lockdown.”