A newly-appointed SNP ‘Equalities Officer’ has issued a weaselling apology for threatening to “beat the f*** out of some terfs and transphobes” in a series of frenzied – and since-deleted – tweets. Cameron Downing, who got the job at the SNP’s London branch in August, unleashed the tirade in September 2020, claiming  “I f****** hate terfs and transphobes with such a passion they make me want to SCREAM!”, at one point adding he was even “in the mood” to take matters into his own hands. Charming…

Now he’s rowed back with an inevitable mea culpa:

“I apologise for these tweets and for any offence caused to the LGBTQ+ community and have long since deleted them.”

Offence caused to anyone else wasn’t covered – but then it was all a long time ago. Nonetheless, SNP President Michael Russell has branded the comments “abhorrent“, with SNP MP Joanna Cherry this morning adding they were “foul & violent“:

There’s been much talk about the use of language in politics overnight. I hope everyone particularly those who proposed the conduct motion at #SNP22 yesterday will condemn this foul & violent misogynistic language from a party official. https://t.co/4Cc4EDEk1K

— Joanna Cherry KC (@joannaccherry) October 10, 2022

Given Sturgeon claimed she ‘detests’ Tories this weekend, maybe this sort of thing is just on-brand for the SNP nowadays…