The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Porn row candidate to stand as independent
Paul Wright leaves SNP before extraordinary general meeting
An Angus council election hopeful who admitted posting extreme pornography on social media has resigned from the SNP.
Under the username Paula Honey Rose, Paul Wright posted the censored images during an argument with another Twitter user.
He resigned from the SNP after being informed that he no longer had the support of many branch members.
However, Mr Wright still intends to stand as a councillor in the Brechin and Edzell ward as an independent candidate.
The branch intended to take action at an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday night, but Mr Wright tendered his resignation from the party in advance.
Mr Wright, who had claimed he was the victim of a “vicious smear”, said: “I said to my ex-agent that I would accept the view of the branch and stand down as their candidate and that I would resign from the party.”
An Angus Council candidate caught up in a Twitter porn row has resigned from the SNP – but will now compete in the election as an independent.
Paul Wright, who had been selected by the SNP to contest the Brechin and Edzell ward, admitted posting extreme pornography, which he censored by using two large coffee cups, on social media.
Mr Wright, whose Twitter user name is Paula Honey Rose, made the posts during an argument on social media.
He said he tweeted the images to demonstrate the character of another user, who had previously posted the uncensored images on his feed. They were deleted two hours later. However, at a meeting of Brechin and Edzell branch of the SNP on Tuesday it became clear that Mr Wright no longer had the support of many members.
The branch planned to take action at an extraordinary general meeting that was hastily arranged for Thursday night.
When Mr Wright was told of the meeting he decided to resign from the party.
His former election agent David Smart explained: “At Tuesday’s meeting it was obvious that many people, in particular women, didn’t want to work with him.
“We decided to hold an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday night.
“It was obvious that if we were to hold the meeting on Thursday night that if he wasn’t going to jump, he was going to be pushed.
“I spoke to Paul on Wednesday and gave him cognisance of the situation and he decided to stand down and resign his membership of the SNP. I think from a political point of view it was essential.
“No matter what the justification of what he did was, it wasn’t going to wash.”
However, Mr Wright will still appear as an SNP candidate on the ballot paper as the deadline for making changes has now passed.
The SNP intend to include a document explaining the position with every leaflet for their other Brechin and Edzell candidate, Kenny Braes.
Mr Wright claimed he had been a victim of a “vicious smear” and added that “people believe headlines and do not search out the truth for themselves.”
He said: “The local branch of the SNP no longer want me to stand as their candidate. There is not the time available to undo the damage that has been done.
“I said to my ex-agent that I would accept the view of the branch and stand down as their candidate and that I would resign from the party.
“(I will be) SNP on the ballot, that is immutable, but if elected I would be an independent.”
He added: “My mistake was to put the interests of those being viciously bullied online ahead of my own or those of the SNP.”