Scottish independence: Smearing in the Scottish National Party is ‘the oil’ that keeps Alex Salmond’s nasty vicious clique rolling, high profiles SNP Ministers accused of smearing and slurs, SNP MSP Roseanna Cunningham dragged out of a Holyrood bar after ‘evil Tory’ rant

Dear All

The list of people being smeared by members of the Scottish National Party continues to grow and grow and grow.

Support for Scottish independence has totally collapsed.

As the SNP leadership continues to panic and try and find a way forward, these outbursts will continue to blow up in their faces.

You can smell the fear!

Most people think that SNP smearing is people down at the bottom of the party, but as we have seen time and time again, we find that these people are also connected to Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

Recently we seen in the public domain, a story about John Swinney alleged to have ‘unjustly slurred’ tax chiefs.

Alistair Beattie, convener of the Scottish Valuation Appeals Committee (SVAC) forum, has taken umbrage at Mr Swinney’s version of events, branding it “very selective and misleading”.

He added:

“I consider that your comments about my colleagues and myself are an unjust slur and I hope you will withdraw and apologise for them.”

And then Roseanna Cunningham who really left people in no doubt that in the SNP under Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership that the party at its core is a nasty vile poisonous clique.

Her efforts ran along these lines, having got a bit pissed in the Holyrood bar, she wandered over to two Conservative MSPs and told them that they were ‘evil Tories’. Not once but twice, just in case they didn’t get the message first time round.

This lead to more bizarre scenes as her party’s apologetic chief whip Joe FitzPatrick dragged her arse out the bar before coming back to apologise.

Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon, 65:

“There was absolutely no call for it. She broke into our private conversation out of nowhere to tell us how evil we are.”

She added:

“It was unnecessarily unpleasant.”

Yes, as the SNP and their supporters keep saying they are running a “positive campaign”.

Enter Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary to the row over cybernattery, he accused the Nationalists of engaging in the “systematic denigration of fellow Scots” by treating them as personal “enemies” instead of political opponents.

In the SNP, the vicious clique around Salmond and Sturgeon use their special brand of poison on other SNP members as well.

This could explain why so few people are willing to be SNP activists.

Alex Salmond’s legacy in Scottish politics is the poison he allowed to spread since he became leader.

Douglas Alexander singled out what has been described as the “hate-filled outpouring” directed at Susan Calman, a Scottish comedian who received death threats and vile abuse on the internet after mocking the referendum during a radio appearance.

However, Alexander did correctly pinpoint that the “politics of personal destruction” extends beyond the army of so-called ‘Cybernats’, who dish out insults online, to the SNP’s most senior figures.

Recent a cybernat called Willie Fleming said this to me:

“As opposed to yourself who wouldn't know the truth if it skelped you on the arse with a banjo. #DivorcedFromReality”.

What did I say previously?

In regard to a Labour Activist called Duncan, I said:

“you tell the truth too often to be an attention seeker”.

Any comment is enough to prompt abuse from what I dub ‘the Sons of Alex’.

Previously I also blogged on the contempt of Scottish people by Angus Robertson who said that Unionist politicians think “people in Scotland are uniquely poor, stupid and incapable of governing themselves”!

Clumsy, ham fisted and nasty spinning to create an air of poison in a vain attempt to try and win support for independence, Scottish people aren’t as stupid as SNP MP Angus Robertson obviously thinks.

 Alexander called Robertson’s attack “crass and offensive”, before warning:

“What should concern us even more is that systematic denigration of fellow Scots is now directed at even those far beyond party politics.”

On the Susan Calman incident, he added:

 “This truly appalling episode is just the latest example of the hate filled outpouring of the so-called ‘Cybernats’, whose characteristic is general intolerance to everybody and anybody who does not share their outlook.”

In what must be a joke, he called on Nationalists to embrace the spirit of the Scottish Enlightenment and join a debate with “vision, not viciousness” at its core.

Under Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership, it isn’t jingle all the way, it pure 100% small minded poisoning by ‘the clique’ surround them.

These people don’t know any different!

The SNP has reduced the debate over Scottish independence to one of ‘us-versus-them’ because it fits into their mentality of grudge, grievance and malcontent.

In an attempt to nullify the criticism the SNP responded by saying via a spokesman that Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had also been subjected to death threats and added a website linked to Labour featured “appalling” remarks about Mr Salmond’s father.

That is a bit like a rapist saying that his crime isn’t as bad because other people rape as well; its called mitigation, hardly a defence is it!

You would think that the SNP spinner would try and present a case of innocent rather than guilty but I have a good excuse..... 'they are doing it as well'.

Today is 499 days to the political death of Alex Salmond at the ballot box; he won’t be missed by Scotland or its people.

The Roseanna Cunningham incident shows how deep intolerance runs in the Scottish National Party, in this case, the lid flew off prompted by a few drinks!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University