Dropped for burning Smith report... now up for top job
AN SNP councillor who was suspended after burning a copy of the Smith Commission report is bidding for an influential party role.
Kenny MacLaren, who was disciplined after footage of the stunt appeared online, is shortlisted for the job of National Secretary.
Patrick Grady, MP for Glasgow North, currently holds the position and is hoping to retain it.
But Mr MacLaren, who has worked as a researcher for West of Scotland Nationalist MSP Stuart McMillan, is hoping to oust him.
Along with fellow Nationalists Will Mylet, Mags MacLaren and Brian Lawson, he sparked outrage by setting fire to a document containing a raft of new powers for Holyrood outside a Renfrewshire Council building, last year.
The Smith Commission’s recommendations, which were agreed by the SNP’s John Swinney and Linda Fabiani, paved the way for Holyrood becoming one of the most powerful devolved governments in the Western world – but some Nationalists complained it fell short.
In a video uploaded to YouTube, Mr Mylet said: ‘The Smith Commission report – this is exactly what we think about it.’ Mr Mylet is now also hoping to hold office on the committee responsible for disciplining members who step out of line. And he is in competition with an SNP councillor who was once suspended after encouraging his children to fire an assault rifle.
Jahangir Hanif, who was nicknamed Councillor Kalashnikov after the incident, is hoping to be one of nine members charged with enforcing SNP rules and cracking down on bad behaviour.
He was suspended from the party for two months in 2008 after being caught on film firing an assault rifle at a military-style camp in Pakistan.
The footage showed Mr Hanif taking his children on a trip to fire a Kalashnikov AK-47 in the Kashmir mountains.
Mr Hanif shot the weapon, and his youngest daughter Sana, who was five at the time, can clearly be seen being helped to fire the gun. Her brother Ameer, and sisters Zainab and Amina, all took a turn firing the weapon.
Mr Hanif is also standing for election to the SNP’s national council, a key decision-making body governing internal party policies. Mr MacLaren and Mags MacLaren are also standing.
As National Secretary it fell to Mr Grady to take action against the book burners, saying they ‘will be suspended from the party until that complaint is heard’. Nicola Sturgeon was also forced to condemn them. ‘My clear view is that setting fire to something because you don’t agree with it is not acceptable behaviour,’ she said at the time.
However, they were reinstated within a few months and their possible elevation to key positions would be embarrassing for the First Minister and her claim to take a tough line on abuse.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘It would send a terrible message to the Scottish people if SNP party members who had broken the rules ended up in charge of the SNP rule book.’