MP McGarry sparks new outrage over ‘holocaust denier’ slur
She faces calls for apology to Unionist campaigner
BELEAGURED Scots MP Natalie McGarry has been threatened with legal action after accusing a leading antiindependence campaigner of being a Holocaust denier.
The Glasgow East MP, who was suspended from the SNP last year when a police investigation was launched over allegations of missing funds from a group she cofounded, posted the allegation on social media site Twitter.
But the head of the grassroots organisation Scotland in Union, Alastair Cameron, l ast night instructed a legal firm to ‘seek an appropriate apology and a charitable donation’.
The Scottish Daily Mail has been told the organisation is prepared to take the MP to court if she fails to comply.
Miss McGarry has deleted the offending Tweet and wrote: ‘ I’d add however, that you should be careful who is dis- tributing your materials, but apologies etc.’
It is suspected her original post – which read ‘ leading Unionist figures do know that Scotland in Union is headed by an internet troll and an outed holocaust denier, right?’ – may have been a case of mistaken identity.
Mr Cameron, who runs Scotland in Union, is a full-time consultant in the financial services industry and has a degree in modern history from St Andrews University.
The married f ather f rom Edinburgh, who receives no payment for his role as direc- tor, is a former captain in the Highlanders regiment.
Miss McGarry, who has nearly 16,000 followers on Twitter, posted her original remark on Sunday morning.
In response, a spokesman for Scotland in Union said: ‘We are surprised that an elected Member of Parliament would make such a false and offensive accusation. We will be taking legal advice before responding formally to Miss McGarry.’
Yesterday evening, the spokesman added: ‘We can confirm that Alastair Cameron has instructed a legal firm to engage Ms McGarry and seek an appropriate apology and a charitable donation.’
It comes just weeks after Miss McGarry was caught up in another Twitter storm, when she alleged that Harry Potter author JK Rowling defends ‘abusive misogynist trolls’ – leading to a warning that she could face legal action.
Miss Rowling’s agent wrote to her requesting an apology and a donation to her children’s charity, Lumos. The MP later apologised and posted: ‘I give and continue to give and donate to charities and organisations in Glasgow East and abroad.’
Last month, 34-year-old Miss McGarry was detained by Turkish security forces after she tried to ‘record the sound of falling bombs’.
The diplomatic i ncident occurred i n the country’s south- east warzone, around 100 miles from the Syrian bor-
‘Seeking apology and donation’ ‘Sound of falling bombs’
der, where the MP was visiting with some trade union workers. She was later released.
Last week, it emerged that her Commons credit card was temporarily blocked when she owed £2,270 to parliamentary authorities in January. Her office blamed a ‘mix up’ and said the situation had now been ‘rectified’.
Miss McGarry quit the SNP whip at Westminster last year, leading to an automatic suspension, following claims that up to £30,000 has disappeared from the Women for Independ- ence (WfI) group accounts. The MP was one of the most prominent pro-independence campaigners during the referendum.
She helped to form WfI and registered the organisation as an official participant in the campaign, informing the Electoral Commission that she was responsible for ‘finance and compliance’.
Accounts lodged with the Electoral Commission show WfI spent around £25,000 during the referendum campaign.
The data does not reveal how much money was raised in total as there were no individual donations in excess of £7,500 – the level above which they must be declared – but insiders claim the figure was considerably higher.
A source close to Miss McGarry has since confirmed she paid back about £6,000 during the summer before WfI called in police on Sunday, November 22. Miss McGarry denies any wrongdoing.
The MP did not respond to a request for comment last night.