Pro-independence blogger’s ‘horror’ at homophobia claim

A political blogger who is suing the former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale for defamation has told a court he was “absolutely horrified” when she accused him of being homophobic.

Stuart Campbell, who runs the pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland, insisted he was a “firm advocate of equal rights for gay people” and was taking the legal action to defend his reputation.

He is suing the MSP for £25,000 after she criticised him in a newspaper column and appeared as the first witness in the case at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday.

It centres around a tweet posted by Mr Campbell on 3 March 2017 as he was watching proceedings at the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Glasgow.

Responding to a speech by Oliver Mundell, he told his followers that the MSP was “the sort of public speaker that makes you wish his dad had embraced his homosexuality sooner”.

Mr Mundell’s father, Scottish Secretary David Mundell, came out as gay in January 2016.

Four days later, Ms Dugdale wrote in her Daily Record column she had been “shocked and appalled” about what she described as Mr Campbell’s “homophobic tweets”.

She added that “such comments are of course not unique to the man who tweets as Wings Over Scotland”, claiming that the account “spouts hatred and homophobia towards others”.

Giving evidence in court, Mr Campbell said it was “absurd” to view his tweet as homophobic, arguing it was a “commentary” on Oliver Mundell being “a very very poor public speaker”. 0 Kezia Dugdale is being sued for £25,000 over her column

He told the court it had obviously been intended as a joke along the lines of: “I wish by some means or other you had not been fathered by your father.”

He added: “It’s a staple joke of humanity, I’d suggest, for almost as long as there has been language.”

Ms Dugdale later raised the matter at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament, where she said her column had “called out Mr Campbell for his homophobic comments”.

Mr Campbell said he had been “absolutely horrified” when he saw clips of the session featuring Nicola Sturgeon. Questioned by his QC Craig Sandison, he agreed that it was unacceptable for someone to be mocked on the basis of their sexuality.

Roddy Dunlop QC, acting for Ms Dugdale, said with his tweet Mr Campbell had been “targeting a gay man in order to deride his son”.

The case continues. 0 Stuart Campbell arrives at Edinburgh Sheriff Court where he said he was a ‘firm advocate of equal rights for gay people’