NICOLA STURGEON branded Boris Johnson “a f***** clown” as he announced the second pandemic lockdown, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard today.

The WhatsApp exhange was revealed as the former first minister’s chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, gave evidence.

It emerged that exchanges between them before September 1 2020 no longer existed, despite Ms Lloyd telling the inquiry she was not aware of any Scottish government policy to delete WhatsApp messages covering “informal” exchanges