Boris Johnson looks ‘daft’ and like America’s ‘mini-me’ for pulling out of a trip to Moscow, says Alex Salmond

BORIS Johnson looks "daft" and his political future is in doubt after pulling out of a trip to Moscow in the row over Syria, according to Alex Salmond.

The SNP heavyweight attacked the Foreign Secretary for cancelling his meeting with after a discussion with America.

He said the move makes Mr Johnson look like "some sort of mini-me" who cannot be trusted to hold his own talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Instead the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will go ahead with a planned trip to the Kremlin to deliver a "clear and co-ordinated" message over its support for Bashar Assad's regime.

After Tim Farron called the Foreign Secretary “Washington’s poodle” yesterday Mr Salmond told BBC One’s Andrew  Marr Show: "Boris Johnson just looks daft.”

The SNP's foreign affairs spokesman added: "What is the argument for not going ahead with a visit?

“Rex Tillerson is going on Wednesday so it can't be that we have moved to a Cold War position of no talking whatsoever.

"The idea the Foreign Secretary can't be trusted because he might pursue his own line or have an independent thought or crossover what the Americans are going to say just makes him look like some sort of mini-me to the United States of America.

"That's not a position any Foreign Secretary would want to be in."

The Cabinet minister will instead push leading nations to demand Russia withdraws its forces from Syria when he meets G7 counterparts for talks in Italy this week.

But Mr Salmond added: "Boris Johnson looks in deep political trouble this morning.”

However his ministerial colleague Priti Patel stood up for him, saying he was focused on working with allies to find a solution to the crisis.

The International Development Secretary told the same programme: "This isn't just about one voice, this is about the international community coming together and our Foreign Secretary is working with his American counterpart as that is the right thing to do."

Pressed on why the UK had pulled out of talks with Moscow, she replied: "We are constantly engaging with all our counterparts and there has been dialogue. The Foreign Secretary has engaged his counterpart previously as well."

She also refused to say if Britain would support future strikes by the US if there are fresh chemical attacks in Syria.

Ms Patel said: "We are not going to speculate on hypothetical scenarios and situations but what we will do is continue to provide the life-saving support that is required when we see such enormous medical emergencies."

Meanwhile Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said "continuing to bomb in Syria is not the solution".

She told Marr: "We have to be part of international agreement, so if the international community felt that the only way in which this could be dealt with would be by way of military action...

"The question is how do we actually bring this war to an end? That's where we actually start from."