Culture secretary Michelle Donelan has been left humiliated after admitting she didn’t know who her opposite number in Scotland is.
The cabinet minister was put on the spot by SNP MP John Nicolson while appearing in front of the Commons digitial, culture, media and sport committee.
Donelan admitted that she had not met Scotland’s culture secretary since taking on the role in October.
Nicolson then asked her: “Can you name Scotland’s culture secretary?”
Donelan replied: “Not off the top of my head.”
The SNP MP then told her: “It’s Angus Robertson. He’s a pretty good thing. He led the SNP group here for many years, he’s known by all of us and he is your opposite number in Edinburgh.”
The gaffe is particularly embarrassing because Robertson was an MP until 2017, meaning Doneland - who was elected in 2015 - would have seen him regularly quizzing the prime minister in the Commons.
After losing his Moray seat to the Conservatives in the 2017 election, Robertson was elected to the Scottish parliament in 2021 and became cabinet secretary for the constitution, external affairs and culture the same year.