Labour candidate suspended over ‘liking’ of offensive tweets
Labour has suspended one of its Scottish general election candidates for appearing to “like” a series of social media post labelled “deeply offensive”.
A social media account appearing to belong to Wilma Brown, the party’s Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath candidate, seemed to endorse posts linking First Minister Humza Yousaf to Hamas, including one calling him “Hamas Youseless”.
The profile also re-posted a Twitter attack on Mr Yousaf and his wife Nadia, who is Palestinian, which branded them “religious zealots” who “shouldn’t be anywhere near our government”. Another post Ms Brown’s account “liked” criticised Mr Yousaf for giving aid to Gaza, and suggested the money could be used to fund Hamas.
The profile also appeared to support social media attacks on Mr Yousaf over an old speech where he pointed to a lack of minorities in top posts in Scottish public life. Other liked posts included criticism of man with a turban saying the St George’s Cross was his flag, with the comment: “You’re literally Indian. It is not your flag. You will NEVER be an Englishman.”
Kirk caldy and cowden beath is one of Scottish Labour’s top targets and the seat with the smallest majority held by the SNP over Labour at 1,243. As a result, Ms Brown was widely expected to become a Labour MP when the election takes place.
All of the posts were liked on her personal account @Wilmabrown19, with her candidate account @wilmabrown4lab being locked and protected and unable to be viewed by the public.
Ms Brown’s Labour Facebook page has also gone dark along with her Twitter pages, though her own personal Facebook page is still up.
It is understood Ms Brown has now been suspended, pending the outcome of any investigation.
The First Minister has previously said it is “increasingly difficult” to shield his children from racism, with Islamophobic graffiti sprayed near his Dundee home. Earlier this month, racist slurs relating to Mr yo us af’ s pakistani heritage were sprayed on the walls and fences of homes in a street in Broughty Ferry.
Mr Yousaf, whose in-laws were trapped in Gaza for about a month before fleeing through Egypt, previously suggested that Muslim and Palestinian lives were viewed as “cheap” and “different”.
After the social media posts became public, the SNP urged Sirkeir st armer to immediately sack Ms Brown, calling the tweets “deeply offensive”.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: “The appalling tweets endorsed by the labour Party candidate for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy are deeply offensive, racist and completely unacceptable.
“Wilma Brown is clearly unfit to be a candidate at the general election. Sir Keir Starmer must sack her immediately and explain why she was ever selected given her long and very public history of endorsing deeply offensive comments.
“This is a candidate who Keir Starmer has personally endorsed and visited to campaign alongside. He must explain how this was allowed to happen.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously. They are fully investigated in line with our rules, and any appropriate action is taken.”