The National:

LIZ Truss has been appointed Foreign Secretary by Boris Johnson.

Yes, you have read that correctly.

The gaffe-prone Tory minister was promoted from international trade secretary, a role in which she mastered her talent for high-profile blunders.

As well as embarrassing the UK as a whole, Truss succeeded in insulting Scots at every available opportunity.

READ MORE: Liz Truss claims Scottish businesses are 'excited' about Brexit during Glasgow visit

Here are three of the new Foreign Secretary’s worst Scotland-related blunders.

Watchdog intervenes

In August 2019, Truss was slapped down by the statistics watchdog over “incorrect” claims about the UK Government's supposed generosity to Scotland. In a column for the Daily Mail, the Tory trade minister gave the UK Treasury credit for “cushioning the blow” of lower than expected growth in Scotland.

She wrote: “Our mutually agreed fiscal framework is designed to benefit the Scottish Government if growth in Scotland is faster than the rest of the UK.

“Thankfully, it also cushions the blow when growth is down in Scotland. So I have confirmed that the Treasury will give £737 million additional cash through the block grant to the Scottish Government.”

The National:

READ MORE: Fact Check: Liz Truss’s claims just don’t add up

However, the £737m was not additional cash because of poor growth, but rather money already deducted from Scotland’s block grant in 2017-18 due to an overestimate of how much money the government in Edinburgh would take in through a new devolved income taxes. It was also, in part, down to taxes taken in by the Treasury for the rest of the UK.

The claim prompted a complaint from the Scottish Government, which was upheld by the UK Statistics Authority.

Sir David Norgrove, the chair of the authority, stated Truss was “incorrect”. He added: “The principal reasons for the block grant adjustment were in fact an initial overestimate of the Scottish tax base and faster growth of tax receipts than expected in the rest of the UK.”

Norgrove also made clear that the authority would be writing to the Treasury, demanding they “improve the presentation of the Scottish fiscal framework in line with our Code of Practice for Statistics”.

‘Secret meeting’

The following year, Truss was accused of orchestrating a “stitch-up” by inviting MPs to a meeting about crippling US whisky tariffs … two hours after it started.

The Foreign Secretary invited MPs to talks billed as an update on US retaliatory tariffs on EU and UK products. However, the SNP complained the invite arrived a full two hours after the meeting began at 4.30pm.

Brendan O’Hara MP urged Westminster to cut out the “childish games”, saying his party had been “completely shut out in a Tory stitch-up”.

The National: Not impressed: SNP MP Brendan O’HaraNot impressed: SNP MP Brendan O’Hara

The Department for International Trade contested that account – but it yet another unfortunate moment for Truss’s former department.

Australia trade deal

More recently, Truss has angered Scots with her defence of the UK Government’s Australia trade deal.

Farmers and opposition MPs raised concerns about the agreement potentially running UK producers out of business.

Yet the Tory minister dismissed all concerns about what she dubbed a “gold-standard” deal, bragging about the prospect of importing products such as swimsuits and wine from Australia.

The SNP's shadow spokesperson for trade, Drew Hendy, was not impressed.

He told Truss in the Commons: "For all her bluster, she knows that any deal with Australia can’t even make a dent on the shortfall created by the trading disaster of leaving the EU. The simple fact is we’re doing less trade now than before January 1.”

He added: “Fourteen of Scotland’s food and drinks organisations have written to her, and say they have been ignored by this government.

"They are Scotland’s farmers, crofters, producers and manufacturers. They know that they’re being dragged under water by yet another Westminster government that simply doesn’t care, and for what, swimwear?"

Good question.

As ever when it comes to Liz Truss, we're scratching our heads.