Mhairi Black: '˜Alex Salmond suggested I get a makeover'

Mhairi Black,pictured before being elected at the age of 20. Picture: Getty

In an interview with Holyrood Magazine to be published in full tomorrow, Black says that Salmond gave her style advice after her election as Westminster’s youngest MP.

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And she revealed that Salmond suggested fellow MP Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh might help her choose clothes.

Black told the magazine: “I was just chatting away to him and whole time I’m thinking ‘what’s the point of this meant to be? Is this a date? Do I need to come out to Alex Salmond?

“It was fine, really, he was just giving me tips here and there and then he says ‘I’m sure Taz will take you out to go shopping or something at some point and you’ll find your own style.

“He then said that the last time he’s had this conversation it was with a young woman called Nicola Sturgeon.

“I thought, ‘Oh very good’ and I just left the awkward silence hanging when he asked me if I wanted him to arrange it with Taz.

“I’m like, I’m never going to be told how to dress, especially by a man.”

Black also said she had received little in the way of support from the party after being elected as a 20-year-old, and revealed she had never had a real one-on-one conversation with Nicola Sturgeon.

“I think things should change and that it might be an idea for Nicola to take the time to talk to folk or whatever but I hope that someone else further down the line does have a different experience to me.

“There should be more care..there you go. I know I’m doing that thing again, where I’m maybe minimising it because it’s myself I’m talking about and I don’t want to make out I was really needy or anything but I think that’s an area where the party does need a kick up the backside, especially given the kind of caring ethos that we like to preach in the party.”

A full interview with Black features in Holyrood magazine to be published tomorrow.