Now SNP MP Cherry is trolled... by ‘complaints officer’ of her own party!
After she suffers web abuse, he subjects her to vitriolic outburst
A NATIONALIST MP who has been the victim of social media trolls was yesterday the target of a new online attack – this time from her party’s own complaints officer.
Ricky Taylor tweeted on Friday that he was ‘delighted’ about his new role in the party and would make the SNP ‘a welcoming and safe place for all’.
But within 24 hours, he launched an onslaught against Edinburgh South West MP Joanna Cherry, an outspoken supporter of women’s rights, as well as a vocal critic of the Scottish Government’s gender recognition reforms.
After Ms Cherry questioned the appointment yesterday, wondering how Mr Taylor could have passed any vetting process for the job, he accused her of ‘open transphobia that you constantly spout’.
He also accused her of ‘typical narcissistic behaviour’, called her a ‘bully QC’ and said she was guilty of ‘automatically using the code of conduct card when someone stands up to her’.
Ms Cherry, 55, has accused the SNP hierarchy of deserting her after she was bombarded with rape threats by a party member, Grant Karte, for her stance on gender reforms and trans rights.
Karte, 30, was sentenced on Friday for sending Ms Cherry sexual threats via Twitter, and ordered to stay away from her for five years.
He must also complete a community payback order and will be supervised for 15 months.
Karte had told the MP: ‘You don’t know me or what I’m capable of.’
After the sentencing, Ms Cherry said ‘irresponsible’ people within the SNP, who had accused her of being transphobic, had ‘put a target on my back’.
She also complained that the ‘SNP hierarchy’ had failed to support her, after she had received ‘menacing and obscene private messages’, and had not even ‘acknowledged or condemned Grant Karte’s threats towards me’.
Yesterday, SNP sources also hit out at the appointment of Mr Taylor, especially in light of the abuse suffered by Ms Cherry.
One said: ‘After the abuse Joanna Cherry has received, and her statement on Friday following the guilty verdict of the individual accused of threatening her, are these tweets appropriate views for a man set to become the party’s new complaints officer?
‘How can his appointment establish trust in what is supposed to be an objective balanced process?
‘How can he, as he states, want to make the party a “welcoming and safe space for all” when it appears he may have already broken the SNP rulebook himself with these tweets about Joanna Cherry?’
Another senior SNP politician complained that the party was ‘scraping the bottom of the barrel for a complaints officer’. They added: ‘In terms of brand marketing, the SNP hierarchy are going from bad to worse.’
Recruitment for the new position of complaints officer came after a series of controversies over the conduct of senior figures in the party.
Recent scandals included former finance secretary Derek Mackay, former early years minister Mark McDonald, former Westminster chief whip Patrick Grady and Margaret Ferrier, who now sits as an independent MP after breaching Covid rules last year.
Yesterday, sharing screenshots of Mr Taylor’s previous tweets, Ms Cherry said: ‘The new SNP complaints officer Ricky Taylor has a history of targeting me and calling me transphobic for my lawful gender-critical views. How did he pass vetting?’
Last night, the SNP said it stood by Mr Taylor’s appointment.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The party’s new complaints officer will play an important administrative role at headquarters, and we have full confidence in his abilities.
‘Decisions on complaints remain with the National Secretary.’
Mr Taylor, who has also previously tweeted that ‘the monarchy should be abolished’, did not respond to requests for comment.
‘Targeting me for my gender-critical views’