Under-fire Liz Truss has sparked a backlash after her "cack handed" attack on Nicola Sturgeon - on the day she was forced into a spectacular U-turn on public sector pay.
The leadership favourite last night claimed the government should "ignore" the Scottish First Minister, branding her an "attention seeker" in an astonishing tirade.
This morning a senior SNP MP accused her of "firing cheap shots to grab headlines", and said the move was "straight out of the Trump playbook".
Meanwhile Theresa May's former chief of staff said the government "can't ignore" Scottish nationalists.
It comes on a day of chaos for Ms Truss, as she was forced to scrap plans that would have resulted in lower pay for nurses, teachers and other public sector workers.
Responding to last night's attack on Ms Sturgeon, Kirsten Oswald, the SNP deputy leader at Westminster, fumed: "The likely next Prime Minister has made crystal clear the partnership of equals Scotland was promised in 2014 was a sham.
"Firing cheap shots to grab headlines is straight out of the Trump playbook but reveals as never before the contempt Westminster has for the democratic choices people in Scotland make and the elected Scottish Government.
"We’ve already seen with Brexit that the Tories and Labour want to ignore Scotland’s government and the wishes of the Scottish people and exert even more control from Westminster.
"“But Truss’s cack-handed comments are also a massive blunder on her part because they expose the ugly reality of Tory attitudes to Scotland and will only strengthen support for independence."
Ms Sturgeon herself has yet to respond to the comments, which were made when Ms Truss was asked about Scottish independence at a hustings event in Exeter last night.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the attack on Ms Sturgeon from someone hoping to be the next occupant of No 10 is "completely and utterly unacceptable".
He said: "People in Scotland, whatever their politics, will be absolutely horrified by the obnoxious remarks that Liz Truss has made."
Mr Swinney told BBC's Good Morning Scotland: "Nicola Sturgeon has far more democratic legitimacy than Liz Truss is going to have if she becomes the prime minister, and I think Liz Truss has absolutely no right or foundation to make these remarks."
The outrage comes after Ms Truss told host Seb Payne: "I feel like I'm a child of the union, I really believe we're a family and we're better together and I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her."
Tory members cheered and applauded the comment, with the Foreign Secretary adding: "She's an attention seeker, that's what she is.
"What we need to do is show the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales what we're delivering for them and making sure that all of our Government policies apply right across the United Kingdom."
She replied "no, no, no" when asked about another independence referendum in Scotland if she becomes prime minister.
This did not sit well with former Tory MP Gavin Barwell, who served as Theresa May's chief of staff during her time in No 10.
He posted on Twitter : "You can't ignore the fact that about half of those who voted in last year's Scottish Parliament elections supported parties who back independence. Unionists need a plan to change some of their minds, rather than sticking our fingers in our ears and saying 'We can't hear you'".
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton says Scots "deserve to be governed by grown-ups" after Ms Truss's attack.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: "Nicola Sturgeon will be secretly glad of these comments because it allows the SNP and the Conservatives to spend their time on a silly and undignified war of words, rather than focus on the difficult and complicated issues that both of their governments are failing to deal with.
"Neither of them has a plan for tackling the cost-of-living crisis, the climate emergency or the backlogs in the NHS.
"Scotland deserves two better governments. An election to remove them cannot come soon enough."
She was defended, however, by Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, who doubled down on the attack.
He told Sky News this morning: "When she's waffling on endlessly about having a referendum and going to the Supreme Court and all of this, we need to be saying 'Hold on - you're doing this because you're failing to deliver for the people of Scotland, and the United Kingdom Government will have to deliver for the people of Scotland as well'."
He added: "I think she's very often wrong, she's always moaning, and we need to focus on how the Union benefits people."
It is already a difficult day for the wannabe PM.
As part of a "war on waste" in Whitehall, Ms Truss had suggested paying workers less if they live in areas of the country where the cost of living is lower, meaning people outside London and the South East would earn less.
But critics said the promise would result in a "war on Workington" rather than Whitehall and sounded the death knell for Boris Johnson's levelling up agenda
Ms Truss junked the flagship policy only hours after it had been announced, after she was accused of "levelling down" by critics.
A spokesperson for Ms Truss said: “Over the last few hours there has been a wilful misrepresentation of our campaign.
“Current levels of public sector pay will absolutely be maintained. Anything to suggest otherwise is simply wrong.
“Our hard-working frontline staff are the bed rock of society and there will be no proposal taken forward on regional pay boards for civil servants or public sector workers.”
But a source in Team Sunak said: "This wasn't a mistake, Liz wanted this in 2018 as CST [Chief Secretary to the Treasury].
"The lady is for turning."
