Tory strategy in disarray after 'loose cannon' Johnson targets the Scots

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BORIS Johnson, the flamboyant Conservative front-bencher, yesterday plunged his party into a fresh row by claiming that Scotland is "subsidised" by England and suggesting that a Scots MP could not become prime minister of the UK.

The Tory higher-education spokesman's remarks at a fringe meeting have infuriated David Cameron's leadership team.

Mr Cameron has privately warned Tories not to play to the "Little Englander" tendency over Scotland and last night he rebuked Mr Johnson for his comments.

Speaking to The Scotsman at the Tory conference in Bournemouth, Mr Cameron said: "Anyone who sits in the Westminster parliament is entitled to run to be leader of their party or to be prime minister."

Later, he told reporters it would be "better" if Mr Johnson stuck to his education brief and did not comment on constitutional matters.

Mr Johnson's remarks about Scotland triggered despair among Tories who have been trying to improve the party's image north of the Border.

After a string of senior Tories attacked the devolution settlement over the summer, Mr Cameron earlier this month publicly committed his party to the Union and called for people in England to be more "understanding" about Scottish issues.

But at a meeting on the fringes of the Tory conference, Mr Johnson, the MP for Henley in Oxfordshire, launched an open attack on Scotland's share of UK public spending.

"The Scots should not get free university education subsidised by us in England. They shouldn't get free nursing care," he told Tory delegates, apparently unaware a journalist was in the room.

He went on: "As a Scot, Gordon Brown will find it hard to convince people in England he should be prime minister."

One source at Central Office described Mr Johnson as "an idiot who should learn to keep his trap shut".

The insider added: "Someone should give him a smack". And a senior Conservative MP described Mr Johnson, a former journalist, as having "zero credibility on Scottish matters - or anything else, come to that".

Labour were quick to seize on Mr Johnson's remarks last night.

Russell Brown, Labour MP for Dumfries and Galloway, said: "The problem for the Tories is that Boris Johnson's anti-Scottish rant appears to be more in touch with the Conservative Party membership than David Cameron's tree-hugging."

Cameron to make NHS his priority

DAVID Cameron, the Tory leader, will today make another appeal to middle-ground voters, promising them the National Health Service will always be safe in Conservative hands.

He will tell his party's conference: "Tony Blair explained his priorities in three words: education, education, education. I can do it in three letters: NHS."

Mr Cameron will make reference to the fact that one of his children is disabled, saying: "It's not just a question of saying the NHS is safe in my hands. My family is often in the hands of the NHS so I want them to be safe there."

He will close the conference with a defence of his refusal to bow to right-wing demands for pledges of tax-cuts and other detailed policy plans.

Chef Oliver's healthy-eating campaign 'too much'

BORIS Johnson also prompted controversy over remarks he made about the TV chef Jamie Oliver.

At the fringe meeting he appeared to denounce Oliver for trying to promote a healthy diet for schoolchildren - a campaign

on which David Cameron, has heaped praise.

"I would ban sweets from school - but this pressure to bring in healthy food is too much," Mr Johnson was quoted as saying.

The BBC said Mr Johnson had also backed mothers who passed junk food to schoolchildren through playground railings, saying: "I say let people eat what they like. Why shouldn't they push pies through the railings?"

Yesterday, Mr Johnson told reporters: "I have been completely misquoted. Jamie Oliver is a national hero.

"The BBC are completely wrong. What I said was, 'Let them eat liver and bacon'."

Conference diary

• Focus groups don't always tell you what you want to hear. Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader, was informed by members of one recent group that she came across like "the governor of a women's prison".

Boris drops himself in it

EVEN before he became the centre of attention yesterday, Boris Johnson was demonstrating his media savvy. Giving an interview to an American television station, he produced a yo-yo. Playing with the toy, he said its movement reflected the Tories' electoral fortunes. Then he dropped it on the floor.

His swearing forced the crew to stop filming.

Right-hand man's right-wing past

GEORGE Osborne delighted delegates with a joke about how Ed Balls, Gordon Brown's right-hand man, was once a Conservative member.

"Don't worry, Ed, we're as ashamed as you are," he said.

The gag prompted a swift denial from the Treasury, but the rebuttal fell flat when it emerged that Mr Balls had indeed joined the Oxford University Conservative Association.