JEREMY Corbyn was heckled by a Church of Scotland minister calling him a “terrorist sympathiser” as he made his first general election visit to Scotland.
Footage shows the Labour leader speaking to the media alongside his Scottish Labour equivalent Richard Leonard before Reverend Richard Cameron began shouting accusations regarding Mr Corbyn’s "sympathies".
READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn says he is 'very nervous' after Labour Party suffers serious cyber-attack
Heckling Mr Corbyn outside the Heart of Scotstoun community centre in Glasgow, Rev Cameron referenced a tartan scarf worn by the Labour leader, shouting: “I thought you would be wearing your Islamic Jihad scarf.”
Mr Corbyn did not respond to the comment, but as he turned to walk away, the heckler continued: “Do you think the man that is going to be prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser?”
Sky News reporter Tom Rayner posted the video on Twitter.
Here’s a video clip of the moment Jeremy Corbyn was heckled in Glasgow pic.twitter.com/ALiSjiZ77W
— Tom Rayner (@RaynerSkyNews) November 13, 2019
Rev Cameron went on: “Who is going to be the first terrorist invited to the House of Commons when you are prime minister?”
READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn under pressure over Trident nuclear deterrent
Mr Corbyn – who looked visibly uncomfortable – was then ushered inside the venue, to which Rev Cameron shouted: “Aye, he’s running away."
It later emerged a Twitter account in Rev Cameron's name has made several homophobic and Islamophobic remarks.
The Labour leader attended the event as part of a two-day visit to key seats in Scotland ahead of December's general election.
He insisted a Labour government would tackle homelessness, the climate catastrophe and housing problems – as well as overhauling social security and protecting the NHS.
Mr Corbyn said his party would bring investment and social justice to Scotland.
And he told activists and candidates he was “itching and burning” to unveil the Labour manifesto.
He said: “I ask you to get behind our Labour candidates all across the city of Glasgow – indeed, all across Scotland."
A Church of Scotland spokeswoman said: “The Church of Scotland as an organisation has a long history of engaging with politicians through a number of different channels.
“Whilst we may occasionally robustly challenge policy issues with which we disagree, we always intend to do that in a way that is polite and measured and allows for reasoned debate.”
The Kirk later added: “There has been significant concern raised today about the comments made by Rev Richard Cameron and his social media use.”
“At this stage all we can say is that there is a formal complaints process and that any complaints we receive in relation to this matter will be taken seriously and addressed.
“We do deplore any comments which are Islamophobic or homophobic.
“The Church of Scotland works closely with our Islamic neighbours and the General Assembly has taken a strong position and said formally that we decry homophobia in any form."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel