Top Scotland lawyer branded 'Tory f**kwit' by Humza Yousaf has t-shirt printed with insult
A top Scottish lawyer branded a "Tory f**kwit" by Humza Yousaf in a private WhatsApp message has posted a picture of himself to social media wearing a t-shirt with the insult printed on it.
Roddy Dunlop, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, previously told The Scotsman he found the whole thing “quite amusing”. Mr Yousaf, the former first minister, made the jibe in a private WhatsApp conversation with Jason Leitch during the pandemic.
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Hide AdAt the time, Mr Yousaf was the health secretary and Professor Leitch was the Scottish Government’s national clinical director.
At 10.50pm on May 31, 2021, the SNP minister wrote to Prof Leitch: “Dunlop is a Tory f**kwit. Remember Twitter isn’t real life!”
The message was contained in a tranche of WhatsApp conversations released to a member of the public, Peter Todd, following a Freedom of Information request.
The context for the remark is not clear due to redactions, but earlier that same day Mr Dunlop had been critical of comments made by Prof Leitch on the BBC.
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Hide AdThe national clinical director had been discussing plans for a 3,000-person capacity Euro 2020 fan zone in Glasgow while the city remained under restrictions, and Mr Dunlop had suggested this approach was inconsistent.
A spokesman for Mr Yousaf previously told The Scotsman: "The emergency phase of Covid, in particular, was a stressful, emotive and high-pressured time for everyone. These messages were intended to be private communications between two colleagues. Notwithstanding this, Humza regrets the language used, particularly given the professional and personal respect he has for Roddy Dunlop KC."
Mr Dunlop said the former first minister had called him to apologise on Tuesday morning after being approached by The Scotsman.
He said: “I know Humza well, having worked closely with him when he was Cabinet secretary for justice. He contacted me this morning to apologise, and I have no difficulty in accepting his apology. No offence is taken and, on the contrary, I actually find this quite amusing.”
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Hide AdOn Thursday, Mr Dunlop posted an image of himself wearing a black t-shirt with “Tory f**kwit” printed on it.
“Halloween outfit sorted,” he joked, adding that it was the copyright of the former first minister, “all rights reserved”.
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