A SENIOR Tory MSP will investigate a party candidate standing in May’s local elections who has taken an interest in videos of speeches made by the former chief of the Ku Klux Klan.
Jamie Robertson has been picked to stand for the Tories in the Dennistoun ward at the Glasgow City Council election in May.
But he came under fire for following a YouTube account called DavidDukeRadioClips, which contains videos of the former KKK Grand Wizard speaking about race, Zionism and Barack Obama.
Duke ran the KKK between 1974 and 1980.
Mr Robertson, who has previously stood as a candidate for Ukip, also followed a YouTube account by vlogger Karl Benjamin who has made repeated jokes about sexually assaulting Labour MP Jess Philips.
In response to Phillips tweeting about violence against women, Benjamin told Ms Philips he “wouldn’t even rape” her.
The Tories claimed Mr Robertson had subscribed to the accounts by mistake and has now unfollowed them.
Central Scotland Tory MSP Stephen Kerr, who chairs the party’s candidate board, told the Herald he would investigate the claims and action could be taken if Mr Robertson is deemed to be an inappropriate candidate.
He said: “I can state categorically that if in the process of selecting candidates we miss important information about people then that will be revisited.
“No-one that represents the Scottish Conservatives and Unionist party can parade themselves as one thing and then behind the scenes be some kind of extremist.”
Mr Kerr insisted that like all parties, the Tories “take a very keen interest” in candidates standing for election but admitted the vetting system was not pefect.
He said: “They know when they put themselves forward to be candidates and go through the assessment process that part of that will be a search on past social media.
“I’m not going to sit here and try and pretend that that system is completely failproof, that it’s perfect – so occasionally, things may happen, as I’ve had to deal with as the chairman of the candidates board, where individuals have come forward that on first reading have passed but when we get a second reading, haven’t.”
Mr Kerr said he would “absolutely disavow” any of the right-wing channels Mr Robertson has taken a liking to, adding that “there’s no remote connection between the Scottish Conservatives and our philosophical positions and any of those people”.
He told the Herald that there was “no doubt” that Mr Robertson will be looked at by party bosses.
He said: “We will not tolerate that stuff and rightly so – whether it’s racism or any kind of bigotry or any fostering of that idea.”
Mr Kerr pointed to two Tory councillors, Robert Davies and Alastair Majury, who were exposed over racist views following the 2017 council election in Stirling.
He said that the duo were “discovered to be less than we had thought” even though “we had known both of them for a long time”.
Mr Kerr added: “We got apologies from one and after a period of time they were rehabilitated in the party and rightly so. That individual has not been re-selected this time though.
“The other candidate wouldn’t acknowledge that there’s been a lapse in his personal judgement and he was expelled from the party.”
Meanwhile, the SNP has called on the Tories to de-select another candidate standing in Glasgow after his past racist views were exposed.
Bruce Whyte, set to stand in the Langside ward in May, has been found to have shared racist posts on Facebook several years ago.
SNP MSP Kaukab Stewart said: “The people of Glasgow have a proud history of rejecting fascists and racists at the ballot box but these abhorrent comments make clear that Bruce Whyte must not end up on a ballot paper at this election.
“There is absolutely no place for racism, sectarianism or intolerance in Scotland and these absolutely sickening comments cannot - and must not - be tolerated in a civilised society.
“Douglas Ross must intervene and remove Bryce Whyte as a Conservative candidate immediately and answer why he was ever selected in the first place.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “We investigate any instance where our candidates are alleged to have posted something inappropriate on social media, no matter if there is substance to the claim or otherwise."
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