Aberdeen South MP Ross Thomson appeared to have been taking tips from a recent TV hit as he played “bodyguard” to Boris Johnson yesterday.
Mr Thomson, a hardline Brexiteer, has backed Mr Johnson’s vision for leaving the EU in the past and beamed as he greeted the former foreign secretary when he arrived at the ICC in Birmingham ahead of his speech.
Footage later emerged on social media which showed Mr Thomson gripping a protective arm around his Tory colleague’s shoulder as they made their way through a scrum of reporters eager to ask whether Mr Johnson was intending to announce a leadership bid.
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One member of the press was heard to describe Mr Thomson as “looking desperate” as he clung to Mr Johnson’s side, and asked why he had adopted the unusual position.
Labour and Co-op MP for Glasgow North East, and Shadow Scotland Office Minister, Paul Sweeney said it looked like the pair were “the latest entrants to Strictly”.
Twitter user Ross McCafferty suggested it would be nice for people to “find someone who loves them like Ross Thomson loves Boris”.
Mr Thomson later acknowledged that the footage bore a timely resemblance to recent BBC television drama The Bodyguard, which centred around a bodyguard’s attempts to protect a senior government figure and attracted more than 10 million viewers when it concluded last month.
Mr Thomson later tweeted: “I was a massive fan of The Bodyguard but I never thought I’d be taking it literally.”
