ROSS Thomson is the highest profile of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Scots Tory MPs – and for all the wrong reasons. The Aberdeen South MP hit the headlines last month after he posted pictures of himself joking about channelling his “inner dictator” during a trip to Saddam Hussein’s infamous military parade ground in Baghdad.
He was also pictured sitting, laughing on the tyrant’s throne while on the fact-finding trip.
READ MORE: Scots Tory MPs an 'embarrassment' to Davidson as they dance to the tune of Rees-Mogg
Thomson’s antics were condemned by the mother of a Scottish soldier who died in Iraq and who called his behaviour “disgusting”. Diane Douglas, from Aberdeen, who lost her 22-year-old son Lance Corporal Allan Douglas when he was shot and killed in January 2006, called for the 30-year-old politician to lose his seat in Parliament.
“Why would he sit there and laugh?” she said. “That’s disgusting. I don’t know what I’d say [if I saw him], I’d probably punch him in the face first and ask him what was he thinking.”
Roza Salih, an Iraqi refugee whose grandfather and three uncles were murdered by Saddam Hussein’s regime, said she was "deeply insulted".
Stephen Kerr, the Conservative MP for Stirling, came to the public’s attention in February when he gave a BBC radio interview attacking the Scottish Government’s Brexit analysis, which warned leaving the EU would deal a severe economic blow for the country. He was put in a tight spot after the interviewer pointed out the UK Government analysis made an even gloomier forecast.
Away from politics Kerr is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – a branch of Christianity opposed to equal marriage and against single or gay women having children through IVF. It’s not known if Kerr has congratulated his boss Ruth Davidson on her baby news last week.
Colin Clark was shot into the spotlight when he unseated Alex Salmond at the Westminster election last year to become the MP for Gordon. Clark has since kept a low key, apart of course, from signing the infamous “ransom” note in February to the PM demanding she stick to Brexiteer’s red lines on the EU: full regulatory autonomy, an implementation period governed by World Trade Organisation principles and a promise new trade deals with third countries can be negotiated as soon as Britain officially leaves the EU.
Alister Jack, the Tory MP for Dumfries and Galloway, has come under some scrutiny since his election last year. The farmer was criticised when it emerged he owned more than £70,000 of shares in a firm registered in a territory described as the world’s “worst” tax haven.
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