Neil Mackay: Council election reveals a circus of extremists, nutcases, halfwits and trolls

Set against the slithering, fleck-lipped, sweaty-handed fantasies of whichever Tory MP it was who claimed Angela Rayner’s legs distracted the Prime Minister in the Commons, dropping the C-bomb is relatively minor.

Of course, it’s possible to wring humour out of such pathetic stupidity, lumpen lack of language skills, and crass sexism, but the descent of politics into the gutter is no laughing matter. Three Tory cabinet ministers reportedly face allegations of sexual misconduct. Two Labour shadow cabinet ministers have also been referred to the parliamentary watchdog, the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS). Some 56 MPs are said to have been reported to the ICGS for allegations ranging from sexually inappropriate comments to claims that one MP “bribed” a staff member “in return for sexual favours”.

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The stink of political rot and abuse doesn’t simply linger at national level, however. It goes all the way down, and we need only look to the forthcoming Scottish council elections – a week from today – to discover just how contemptible so many of those who would deign to represent us really are, once some digging is done.

Since January I’ve been keeping a little work file marked Gutter, which contains clippings relating to allegations levelled at Scottish council candidates from across the parties. The tally, by no means definitive, runs to 40 individuals. I’d like to list them all, providing voters a ready-reckoner for polling day, but space prevents me.

So here’s a sample of headlines and stories for your delectation.

• Convicted wife abuser to stand for Scottish LibDems

• Tory Glasgow candidate faces calls to stand down for ‘racist’ post

• SNP candidate in ‘disgusting’ anti-Semitic comment row

• Tories stand candidate with interest in KKK

• SNP candidate under fire over claims 9-11 was ‘inside job’

• SNP candidate calls Pope a ‘c**t’

• Scottish Labour candidate said SNP wanted to impose ‘Catholic Monarchy’

• Man accused of racism by Anas Sarwar to stand for Scottish Labour

• SNP race row candidate forced to apologise

• Scottish Tories suspend candidate after ‘throat-grab’ video

On it goes. That’s merely a flavour. Remember when everyone thought it was just Alba that was the dreck-magnet? Some individuals I’ve monitored have been axed as candidates, but unsurprisingly, I find it rather amusing when the oafs and knuckle-draggers – male and female – who populate Scottish politics upbraid journalists for our ‘relentless negativity’. Would they like us to celebrate disgrace?

What’s happening here? There’s evidence some parties have struggled to find candidates to stand – but a declining pool of council wannabes cannot account for the sheen of filth covering the body politic. And if you’ve only got a few apples in the barrel why pick the rotten ones?

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So, is this a case of the public getting what we deserve? Politics, like the media obviously, is merely a mirror which reflects back the spirit of the times.

Thirty years ago, when I was starting out in the journalism game, I had to cut my teeth as a cub reporter covering courts and councils. Back then, the traditional entry into journalism was a little like a Japanese sushi chef: you had to spend years learning to boil perfect rice before you ever got to make a fancy-schmantzy maki roll.

Covering councils is the journalistic equivalent of learning to boil rice perfectly. So I’ve come across plenty of loonies in local authorities in my time. Municipal madness is nothing new. However, the sheer scale of the creeps and goons trying to get their foot in the door of democracy in Scotland is quite staggering.

Extremism is now becoming in-built in politics. Character is no longer a requirement. Perhaps this is proof of Twitter entering the real world. Thankfully, we just have the dregs of society trying to get some seats in councils rather than scaling the walls of the Capitol Building – but then America always does lead where the rest of the west follows.

Is it perhaps the trickle-down effect of what Boris Johnson has done to politics? If there’s a lying, amoral weasel at the top of the pile, why should those on the lowest rungs give two damns about how they behave?

It all speaks of a deep cynicism within political parties. As long as they’ve people who’ll mouth the right slogans, their candidate selection procedures appear perfectly content to allow the worst of the worst to get a taste of power.

Sadly, it seems impossible not to lay blame at the door of the ‘constitutionalisation’ of our politics. Everything is now refracted through the prism of the constitution – whether it’s independence or Brexit. And the constitution doesn’t make for good everyday politics. It makes for culture wars and division over identity. It makes for people who want you to think like them, rather than people who want to make your life better. The constitution creates rabble-rousers and extremists, not community-minded public-spirited public servants who want to work hard for you and me.

Most of all, we’re seeing proof of what a bitter and mean little society we’ve incrementally but inevitably become. As long as these extremists, predators, nutcases, trolls and halfwits – whether at the local or national level – sing the ugly songs we want to hear, bang the identity drum we want to dance to, attack the enemies we want attacked, we’ll traipse off to polling booths next week and vote for them regardless.

We’re divided as a people and that’s debased us as a group. So, what can we expect from the mirror which politics holds up to our faces, but to see some awful reflection of everything that’s wrong with ourselves today?

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