Author Douglas Murray has applauded JK Rowling’s “leadership” as she continues to stand up to the Scotland government amid its new hate crime laws.

“This is what leadership actually looks like, and you find it in surprising places sometimes,” Mr Murray told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“JK Rowling has stepped up in a way that so few people have in our era, so many people just go along with whatever is demanded of them, say whatever they’re told to say.

“She has quite rightly, in my view, taken a stand on this particular issue, has said there is something wrong, actually wrong, about pretending that things are not as they are.

“They lead to terrible realworld consequences."