Fury as SNP MP says: ‘We fight to the death’
Backlash over deleted tweet ...in row about potato prices
A NATIONALIST MP has been criticised for saying Nationalists were prepared to ‘fight to the death’ for their country.
Steven Bonnar, MP for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, tweeted: ‘We will fight to the death for our country... if that’s what it takes’.
He later deleted the tweet, in response to Labour peer Lord Foulkes, insisting that he had been joking, but the Tories branded it ‘stomach-churning’.
It came in response to a discussion about SNP claims that the Brexit deal would be detrimental to Scottish seed potato farmers.
Commenting on Nationalist MPs planning to vote against the post-Brexit trade deal, Lord Foulkes said: ‘They’ll fight to the death to save our seed potatoes!’ Mr Bonnar then tweeted his claim about being prepared to ‘fight to the death’, before deleting it and explaining, ‘seeing as it’s the season of goodwill I felt it was dark humour and removed it’.
The exchanges were part of a series of online disputes yesterday which the Tories said exposed the ‘true ugly face of Nationalism’.
In another Twitter row yesterday, Scottish comedian and broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli also sparked a backlash by writing: ‘Look South. Tell me this.
‘Do they represent us in any way, shape or form? They are not us and we are not them. It’s not about economics.
‘It’s not about sovereignty. It’s not even about politics. It’s about morality, integrity and humanity.
‘They are not us and we are not them.’ The comments prompted broadcaster Andrew Neil to tweet i n response: ‘ So Scots have superior morality, integrity and humanity to the English? When did that happen?’
Mr Kohli later backtracked, saying: ‘It was my hope that since I don’t hate or blame the citizens of England and never have, the target of my ire would have been clear. I accept that perhaps it wasn’t. Every day a school day.’
Meanwhile, former East Lothian Nationali s t MP George Kerevan tweeted pictures of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, and wrote: ‘People who did not ask for a referendum from their oppressors before they demanded freedom’. It triggered angry responses, including a tweet from Glasgow councillor Mhairi Hunter, Nicola Sturgeon’s campaign manager, who said: ‘Please stop. This is not going to help us to win independence at all. It is far more likely to put people off.’
Nationalist MSP for Renfrewshire South, Tom Arthur, tweeted: ‘Scotland was an enthusiastic participant in both the colonisation of the Indian subcontinent and slavery, with its enduring legacy of racial inequality.
‘To equate Scotland’s present circumstances to these struggles for equality is crass, offensive and historically illiterate.’
Last night a Scottish Tory spokesman said: ‘The pledge by the sitting SNP MP to f i ght to the death i s particularly stomach-churning.
‘Mr Bonnar should have much better things to do, like helping his constituents through the pandemic, rather than writing such fantasies.’
The spokesman added: ‘Violence has no place in Scottish politics – those engaging in it should be ashamed and immediately called out by the First Minister.
‘The years the SNP has spent stoking grievance and division might make this difficult though.
‘These tweets reveal what we have known all along – the true ugly face of Nationalism.’
The SNP was contacted for comment but did not reply.
‘Crass, offensive and illiterate’