Alistair Carmichael has dismissed his reputation as a political bruiser as “grossly unfair”.
The Secretary of State for Scotland told The Courier he appreciated that labels can be “stuck” on politicians but that he wanted to show he had greater depth than was being spun.
UK Government sources were keen to paint Mr Carmichael as a heavy hitter when he replaced Michael Moore in the cabinet earlier this year.
However, when asked about the “bruiser” tag, he said: “I think it’s grossly unfair but I have been around politics long enough to know one of the things journalists want to do is stick labels on people.
“If that’s the label that’s going to be stuck on me so be it but I think people will see with time I’m not as one dimensional as that.
“If I were, I don’t think I could have survived doing the chief whip’s job for three and a half years.”
Although there has been much talk about how he will square up to First Minister Alex Salmond, Mr Carmichael insisted he did not want his “whole time as Secretary of State for Scotland to be about the independence referendum.”
“I want to get people in Scotland talking about entrepreneurship,” he said.
“Historically it has been a great place to do business and it still is but we don’t talk about that anymore.”
Mr Carmichael faces his first Scottish Questions session at Westminster since being appointed.