A Scottish Government minister has joined calls for SNP members in East Kilbride to oust their SNP MP.
Christina McKelvie said she would back Grant Costello for the candidacy in Lisa Cameron’s constituency.
The Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse MP, who serves as Huzma Yousaf’s minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, said she had known Mr Costello for many years and praised his “proven track record of campaigning on the issues that matter to the people of East Kilbride & Strathaven".
READ MORE: SNP civil war in East Kilbride as MSP urges party members to unseat MP
Her endorsement for the campaigner who works as the SNP’s digital media manager, comes as angry activists in the branch pushed back against the suggestion that Dr Cameron was facing a selection battle because of her support for Patrick Grady’s teenage victim.
One senior local member told The Herald: “The branch has absolutely no record that Lisa has ever mentioned never mind stood up for the victim in the Grady matter.
They added: “The branch presented its first complaint about her six or seven years ago, eight or nine complaints since then and an official motion to have her removed over three years ago, so this is not a new situation.”
A motion passed by East Kilbride SNP on 23 September 2019, and seen by The Herald, criticised the National Executive Committee’s decision “to impose Dr Lisa Cameron as the party's candidate in the forthcoming General Election for the second time, despite misgivings expressed by party members across East Kilbride Strathaven and Lesmahagow Westminster Constituency since before the 2017 election".
The motion, which was backed by 37 members, and opposed by none, said that despite “undertakings given by Dr Cameron before the 2017 election, there has been no change in her attitude towards the party, including East Kilbride SNP, which covers more than 70% of the electors in her constituency".
The branch called on the NEC to recognise that “the breakdown in the relationship between Dr Cameron and the party is such that it would be detrimental to our mutual aim of delivering independence if Dr Cameron remains as candidate".
READ MORE: SNP MP threatens legal action against party in selection row
Meanwhile, in an interview with Daily Mail, Dr Cameron claimed the hostility from SNP colleagues in Westminster had given her panic attacks.
She told the paper: “I feel like the hierarchy, the leadership at the time, basically issued a directive to support the perpetrator and I was the person who said at the time – not to cause a problem but because of my work experience in the field with victims – that we should have a victim-led approach.
“We should be thinking what are we doing for the victim, and what are the victim’s feelings if we are going to be welcoming back the perpetrator.
“I was really shocked at the response. It was basically ignored.
“The hostility started afterwards and it was like I said something out of turn.”
Mr Grady was suspended from the Commons after he made an “unwanted sexual advance” to a party staffer 19 years his junior “while under the influence of alcohol.”
Dr Cameron told the paper that she had told the SNP whips at Westminster she was undergoing counselling following her experience, saying she had “about 12 months of counselling records that go along with this”.
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