JOANNA Cherry has said she would never have got involved in frontline politics had she known "the level of abuse and threats" she would receive from within her own party. 

The high-profile MP and QC was sacked from the SNP's Westminster front bench earlier this month amid deepening divisions in the party.

She said she later received a "series of very scary and frightening messages" from an SNP member, including a threat of sexual violence. 

READ MORE: Joanna Cherry 'sacked' from SNP front bench in Westminster

Police have since charged a 30-year-old man in connection with the allegations. 

Despite this, Ms Cherry said she has not had any contact from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

She told Holyrood magazine: “I am a pretty strong person. I have a loving family, a loving girlfriend and some fantastic staff who work for me and a lot of support within the party. 

"I think somebody who didn’t have that would probably have cracked up under the strain I’ve been put under.

"Had I known the level of abuse and threats I would receive from within my own party, and the repeated briefing against me and attempts to smear me from within my own party, without the sort of support I would’ve expected from the leadership, then I would not have stood to be a candidate.

"I don’t regret standing because I care passionately about the cause, but had I known what I was going to go through, I wouldn’t have stood. 

"I know for a fact, because woman write to me and email me, that looking at what’s happened to me is putting women off entering politics.”

READ MORE: Joanna Cherry 'not surprised' at sacking following 18-month 'campaign of abuse'

She later added: "I’m very upset and very hurt that nobody from the leadership of my party has condemned the abuse that I received last week, which included a threat of serious sexual violence."

Ms Cherry has publicly clashed with other SNP politicians over reforms to the Gender Recognition Act. 

She has faced allegations of transphobia, which she strongly denies.

The Edinburgh South West MP told the New Statesman she was the target of "an 18-month campaign of social media lies, smears and foul-mouthed abuse directed at me from a number of mainly young men within the party who seem to have a problem with middle-aged lesbians who support women’s sex-based rights".

Ms Cherry is also seen as close to former first minister Alex Salmond, who is currently at loggerheads with Ms Sturgeon over the Scottish Government's handling of sexual misconduct claims made against him.