MP Wishart calls for respect online
Politician receives tirade of attacks on social media
Pete Wishart MP calls for respect online Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, has called for respect online, after he received a tirade of attacks on social media over the weekend.
The SNP politician was criticised by fellow nationalists on Twitter, with some comments calling him an “Etonian boot licker” after he wrote an article last week about his concerns over a second independence referendum.
Mr Wishart, who is the longest serving SNP MP, warned losing a second independence referendum because people were not ready for independence would be a “national tragedy”. However, since sharing the article online, he has received a backlash from independence supporters across the country.
Writing on his online blog, Mr Wishart said: “Well that’s been quite a couple of days. In the last few days I’ve been called a ‘poster boy’ for the ultra unionist group Scotland in Union, I’ve had my commitment to Scottish independence questioned, my ‘lifestyle’ has been disapproved of, I’m apparently ‘settling down’ in Westminster and I’ve even been called an ‘Etonian boot licker’.
“None of this came from political opponents - all of this is from people who claim to support Scottish independence on Twitter.”
He continued: “Now I’m a reasonably robust political character, hardened by almost 17 years in parliament and used to the occasional scrap on Twitter. I was one of six MPs who had to out the case for the last referendum in the most hostile environment imaginable when we had to face down 640 unionist MPs at Westminster. I won my seat against all the odds last year when the Tories told me that it was a 99 per cent certainty that they would take it.
“I am not easily thrown off my stride by criticism or attacks but I was genuinely surprised by the vehemence of people I presumed were political comrades. It would be easy to dismiss that as ‘just Twitter’ but I know that environment reasonably well and I have to conclude we might have an issue and difficulty in our movement.”
This comes after a poll over the weekend revealed 58 per cent of those questioned did not want another independence referendum in the next few years, with a further 25 per cent adding they wanted a referendum once the Brexit negotiations are over.