Gaffe as Boris Johnson mistakes senior Lib Dem for an SNP MP

Boris Johnson has mistaken one of the most senior Unionists in the Commons for an SNP MP - as he said the nationalists were “bound to take an independent Scotland back into the EU”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson departs 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament

The Prime Minister was asked by Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland Alistair Carmichael to close a loophole that allows any beef packaged in the UK to be labelled as British beef.

“I can only say that it must be one of those things that is currently governed by the laws of the EU - to which he is bound to return an independent Scotland, should that catastrophe ever arise,” Mr Johnson replied during PMQs.

“We in this house intend to take advantage of the freedoms we have won, the freedoms that the British people have decided to take back, to make sure that Scottish beef farmers have the protections that they need.”

In his notes at the Commons dispatch box, Mr Johnson appeared to have a list of MPs due to ask question, along with their photographs.

Mr Carmichael is the longest serving Unionist MP in Scotland, having been elected in 2001. He served in parliament alongside Mr Johnson for seven years, before he became Mayor of London.

The veteran Lib Dem also served as Scottish Secretary during the Tory-led coalition government.

Speaking to the Scotsman after PMQs, Mr Carmichael siad: “[Health Secretary] Matt Hancock seemed to think I should be joining the SNP, and Boris seemed to think I had already joined… I am quite happy where I am, thank you!”

Senior SNP figures leapt on the Prime Minister’s gaffe, with MP Stewart McDonald posting on twitter: “It’s that grasp of detail that really makes the PM the man for the moment”.

And the Scottish Government’s Constitution Secretary Michael Russell tweeted his “thanks to Johnson for confirming that an independent Scotland will be back in the EU”.

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