Tory MP attacked by food bank hate mob
Nationalists to the fore as angry protesters hurl abuse at Mundell
AN ANGRY mob jeered at Scotland’s only Conservative MP as he opened a food bank in his own constituency.
David Mundell was forced to flee through a back door and escape in a waiting car after anti-austerity protesters, including Scottish Nationalists, chanted ‘shame on you’.
The angry scenes came despite the SNP vowing to crack down on extremists within the party who have been accused of souring Scottish politics.
The MP looked visibly shaken after his visit to the Trussell Trust food bank in Dumfries.
As he left, the crowd could be seen aggressively pressing their faces to the windows of his car and yelling at him.
People dressed in Yes campaign T- shirts and carrying Saltires thumped on the windows and at first refused to let the vehicle move.
They surrounded his white Ford Focus, which was forced to slowly edge round the screaming mob with the help of police.
Protesters carried placards which said: ‘Shame on you Mundell, you’re starving people.’
One banner read: ‘ They cut, we bleed’, while another referred to Mr Mundell’s nickname, stating: ‘Have you no sense of irony, Fluffy?’
Among the protesters was Steve James, an SNP activist and media studies lecturer who is pictured with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on his Twitter profile.
The Dumfries East SNP branch also posted a link to a YouTube video of Mr Mundell at the event, during which he refused to answer why he had not attended the opening of another food bank.
The branch tweeted: ‘ The Shaming of Mundell as he left via back door of food bank in Dumfries he’d just opened to shouts of “Shame on you”.’
The West Dumfries branch of the SNP boasted on Facebook: ‘A great turnout to welcome Scotland’s Viceroy, “Fluffy Munnel” in Dumfries today. Shame he scuttled off out the back door.’
They added that ‘at least 100 folk’ stood outside the food bank with placards and chanted “Tories Out!”. Mundell tried to sneak out the back door so we all piled round the back in hot pursuit chanting “Shame on you”. Was brilliant! Lol!’ Two women campaigners were seen thumping on his car window and screaming through the glass that he was the ‘shame of Scotland’.
Mr Mundell caused f ury among Nationalists when he told the Scottish parliament’s welfare committee earlier this year: ‘ The three issues most commonly raised in relation to f ood banks are sanctions, delays in benefit payments and low income. I do not accept that those three issues are welfare reform issues.’
Ewan Gurr, Scotland network manager for the Trussell Trust, which runs the food bank, said: ‘When a food bank is due to launch, it is standard practice to invite the local elected MP to say a few words.’
Nationalist MSP Joan McAlpine said: ‘The opening of a food bank is nothing to celebrate – it is a direct consequence of the failure of David Mundell’s Conservative Government, which is represented by only one MP in Scotland.’
Mr Mundell said: ‘It was a rammy. I knew there would be protesters there, but as a Scottish MP you should not just speak to people who agree with you, you should speak to everyone.
‘However, some issues are becoming so politicised, it’s impossible to have a construct i ve discussion. We can’t descend i nto this kind of behaviour just because we don’t agree with each other.’
He added that the reasons behind f ood banks were ‘complex and varied’.
A spokesman for the SNP said: ‘We always call for respectful and constructive political debate. People understandably feel passionately about the role that the UK Government’s attacks on the working poor and vulnerable are having on the growing need for food banks.’
HAS it really come to this? A Cabinet minister attends an event in his constituency and needs a police escort through a baying mob who scream insults and menacingly pound the windows of his car.
In a democracy such as ours, no one can deny people’s right to protest. But how far have we fallen in Scotland that instead of reasoned argument and measured discourse, we are subject to mob rule? The independence referendum was divisive. No matter who won, there was always going to be a huge rump of disappointed Scots. But instead of the healing and conciliation the country needs, we have agitators on the defeated Yes side continuing to foment discord and seeking as many vote re-runs as it takes to get the result they want.
That creates a febrile atmosphere in which mobs, such as the one we saw yesterday in Dumfries, thrive.
By all means we should be debating the issues surrounding food banks – but not while thumping on vehicle windows and roaring vile insults.