A TORY councillor who was allowed back into the party after comparing independence supporters to Nazis has continued with his smear campaign, The National can reveal.
Alastair Majury’s online posts included sectarian jibes and were so offensive the Boys’ Brigade, for which he was a volunteer, had to email parents to re-assure them about their standards.
The Stirling councillor’s comments about benefits claimants, homelessness, gay marriage and the size of his manhood were uncovered shortly after his election in 2017 and, after a period of suspension from the Tories, he was allowed back in under Ruth Davidson’s leadership.
Now The National can reveal Majury continues to smear independence supporters online, insisting Yes voters are anti-English “whether they admit it to themselves or not”.
Posting on the question-and-answer site Quora.com, Majury states that the Yes movement is “driven out of hatred” and “Scottish Nationalists are anti-English”.
The Tory Party has refused to say whether or not it will take any disciplinary action. But a member of the public who reported the matter to The National said Douglas Ross’s party has failed to tackle intolerance in its ranks, saying: “The posts are not acceptable for one holding elected office.
“Majury has already been subjected to disciplinary action by his own party. Indeed, after his previous suspension was lifted an unnamed Conservative party spokesperson was quoted as saying “behaviour like this will not be tolerated in future” .
“The disciplinary action taken against him was a sham and/or his party tacitly supports such conduct. Given recent events in the USA, it seems more important than ever that our political parties should not tolerate behaviour like this. Failure to act creates a toxic environment which encourages the lunatic fringe.”
California-based Quora brands itself as “a place to gain and share knowledge”. It is described as “a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers”.
Majury has answered almost 1600 posters on the site and lists a range of specialities relating to tech, business and finance. He is an administrator for several groups, including the Union flag-logo-ed “Sovereign Will of Scots” and a blog identifying himself as a councillor. He is one of two Tories representing Stirling Council’s Dunblane and Bridge of Allan ward, which also has independence-supporting Scottish Greens and SNP councillors – suggesting many of his constituents are Yes-leaning.
Graham Houston, the SNP councillor who shares Majury’s patch, said locals there are “absolutely not” anti-English. He stated: “It’s pretty appalling that some of his antics of the past seem to be with him still in the present. I wasn’t aware of it but I’m not surprised by it. He would be better off in America with that kind of output – it’s right out of the Trump campaign to divide people.”
Majury’s suspension came after posts emerged stating that the term Nazi is “an accurate description” of Scottish nationalists and made a jibe connecting Catholicism to child abuse, also using an offensive term about this community. He also went after benefit claimants, criticised a local food bank and ridiculed the First Minister for working on gay marriage, as well as boasting about the size of his penis on a dating website.
Majury did not respond to requests for comment but the Scottish Conservatives compared his conduct to that of SNP Dave Doogan, who had to apologise for making reference to “red coats” and “quislings” during a debate on the Gaelic language while a councillor in 2017. A spokesman said: “Clearly a majority of nationalists are not anti-English and stating so is not acceptable, however, a number of SNP elected officials have made statements that reveal anti-English sentiments, for instance Dave Doogan, who claimed his fellow countrymen were ‘quislings’.
“Nicola Sturgeon did not discipline those remarks, instead she promoted Doogan to stand as an MP after they were made.”
But Scottish Greens MSP Mark Ruskell, a former Stirling councillor, said: “Majury is a far-right fantasist whose characterisation of the growing support for independence as ‘anti-English’ is offensive and lazy politics.
“Scotland is being forced out of the European Union against our will. There is nothing anti-English about wanting a different future for Scotland, taking our own seat the European table and leading efforts to make the continent fairer and greener.”
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