Ruth Davidson ‘nervous’ over Have I Got News For You appearance

Ruth Davidson will be the first Scots politician to appear on the show since Charles Kennedy in 2009. Picture: Ian Georgeson

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has admitted she is ‘terrified’ at the prospect of appearing on the long-running show alongside team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop, guest host Michael Sheen - who once portrayed ex-Labour prime minister Tony Blair - and comedian Jon Richardson.

The 36-year-old Scots politician jokingly told The Sun she had ‘only been asked because they need a woman’.

A number of Scots personalities have appeared on the show since it first aired in 1990, including broadcaster Kirsty Young, Glasgow comedian Susan Calman, funnyman Kevin Bridges, former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy, Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci, comic Fred MacAulay, BBC presenter and journalist Andrew Neil and actor Richard Wilson.

But the show has been criticised for a perceived anti-Scottish stance in the past.

More than 100 complaints were received by the BBC and Ofcom following an April 2013 edition of the programme in which the referendum on Scottish independence was discussed.

Hislop suggested that Mars Bars could be the currency in a post-independent Scotland, while guest host Ray Winstone added: “To be fair the Scottish economy does have its strengths - its chief exports being oil, whisky, tartan and tramps.”

He then asked the audience: “Should we all be happy to let the Scots keep the pound, or should we just tell them to b*gger off?”

• Ruth Davidson appears on episode four of the show’s 50th series, which airs at 9pm on Friday October 23 on BBC One.