DOG WHISTLE POLITICS
Furious Tory MP attacks SNP councillor who claimed he’d ‘send him homeward’ in election
A NATIONALIST councillor has been accused of ‘dog whistle politics’ by an English MP after he said he would send him ‘homeward’.
Graham Lindsay hopes to be the SNP candidate for Luke Graham’s Ochil and South Perthshire constituency.
In a campaign video, Mr Lindsay said he was ‘born and bred’ in the constituency, insisting this is ‘my patch’.
Conservative MP Mr Graham condemned the ‘divisive’ comments and said a member of his staff had been subjected to anti-English abuse in an attack on his office.
In the video, Mr Lindsay states: ‘I believe I am the right person to expose Luke and his harmful policies and send him homeward. This is my patch, I love this place and I deeply care about people across this community.’
The councillor for Clackmannanshire East is up against former East Dunbartonshire MP John Nicolson in the race to be chosen as the SNP’s candidate for the constituency.
Party members began voting last week, with the result of the ballot expected to be announced on Friday.
Mr Graham, a former finance worker who moved to Auchterarder four years ago, said: ‘It is divisive, dog whistle politics. The mask has slipped – the SNP try to say they are a progressive, community-focused party but it is not very community-focused to say we should send some people in this community back home.
‘He is trying to say, “I’m the local candidate and I will send him back home”. The taxi to Auchterarder is not very far.
‘I think it is clear what he is trying to do and what he is insinuating. In the context it was said, it is just more divisive nationalism.’
He added: ‘I thought it was pretty clear what he meant from his next line, when he said that “this is my patch”. He was talking about how he was from here and he would send me homeward.’
Mr Graham has previously said two thugs threatened to drag a
‘More divisive nationalism’
female staff member ‘to the noose’ at his constituency office in Crieff, Perthshire.
The worker was alone in the office when the pair started banging on the windows.
They shouted that in an independent Scotland ‘all of you will be hanging’ and that they would come back and drag her ‘to the noose’.
He also yesterday described how a female staff member from Namibia, who had lived south of the Border for three years, was told to ‘get back to England’.
Mr Graham added: ‘Nationalists who constantly say that they are not anti-English ought not to constantly bring up the fact that I am English.’
Last year, Tory MP Stephen Kerr, who represents Stirling, was targeted by thugs who scrawled ‘traitor’ on his constituency office.
Mr Lindsay did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
An SNP spokesman said it was ‘pretty clear it’s just a turn of phrase to send him packing’ and insisted it was ‘ridiculous’ for Mr Graham to be offended by Mr Lindsay’s choice of words.
IN this febrile climate, the language politicians use has come under fierce scrutiny. Nationalists were among those condemning Boris Johnson’s ill-advised comments about murdered MP Jo Cox.
So what are we to make of SNP councillor Graham Lindsay, who has vowed to send English MP Luke Graham ‘homeward’?
Time and again, we are told that the party is determined to keep its supporters in line – and to weed out those who spread bile and division. the SNP denies any bigoted intent, but ultimately it will be up to voters to pass judgment on Mr Lindsay – if he is selected to contest the seat, currently held by Mr Graham.