DOUGLAS Ross was carpeted by the Presiding Officer during a rowdy session of First Minister’s Questions for referring to the deputy First Minister as “Honest John”. 

Alison Johnstone told the Scottish Tory leader to “desist from nicknames.”

John Swinney was standing in for Nicola Sturgeon during the regular Thursday questions after the First Minister pulled out after being "floored" by the Coronavirus.

The use of the unparliamentary moniker came as Mr Ross quizzed the SNP veteran on his role in signing off a controversial deal for two new Calmac ferries.

The cost of the new vessels being built to serve Scotland’s island communities has soared from £97 million to at least £250 million and they are now four years overdue. 

The Scottish Government has come under pressure to explain why it effectively overruled CalMac to push ahead and award the contract to Ferguson Marine despite normal financial safeguards not being in place, including the guarantee of a full refund if something goes wrong.

Emails released by the government show that while the then Transport Minister Derek Mackay signed it off, Mr Swinney was briefed on the decision making process, and "cleared the proposal."

It’s not the first time the Scottish Tory leader has branded Mr Swinney, “Honest John” over the ferry row. 

READ MORE: Douglas Ross accused of 'nasty politics' over attack on John Swinney

Last month, during another exchange, Mr Ross claimed “Honest John’s hands are all over this dodgy deal."

At the time the Presiding Officer did not intervene.

However, in 2015, when it was used about Mr Swinney during a debate by the then Labour MSP Neil Findlay, the deputy presiding officer at the time, chided the member. 

While there is not a list of words or phrases that are not allowed in the chamber, there are certain words that the presiding officers consider to be unparliamentary by their very nature.

In today's session, Ms Johnstone cut in on Mr Ross to say: “We will desist from nicknames in this Chamber and we will call people by their first names.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he replied.  

During the exchange, Mr Ross pointed to emails which he said showed Swinney had approved the contract. He told MSPs: "Against overwhelming evidence, John Swinney signed off the deal anyway.

"It seems obvious to everyone what has happened here. The SNP wanted the political praise for keeping the yard open ahead of an election, so they ignored all the alarm bells.

"It looks an awful lot like the SNP made a dodgy deal and now they’re covering it up.

"Can the deputy First Minister really tell the public that there was no political motive behind the award of this contract?"

Replying to Mr Ross, the deputy First Minister said: “There was no political motive behind this contract.

“The objective of the Government was to ensure that ferries that are required are built and that is what we are concentrating on achieving. And we are also determined to ensure that employment in the lower Clyde is supported with contracts coming from the Calmac network.

“For Mr Ross to say that somehow the yard could stay open without any contracts is just to deny physical reality about the way which a yard would be run.”

He insisted that “Audit Scotland had deemed the procurement process to be “entirely standard”, adding: “And on that basis the transport minister took the decision to award the contract.”