SNP MP Natalie McGarry has bitten the bullet over her pro-Indy campaign group’s financial irregularities. Her solicitor says “she is fully aware that this will lead to automatic suspension from the SNP”. Read all Guido’s stories on McGarry here…

Guido has been leaked a cache of private Facebook messages sent by Alexandra Paterson, the chairman of the Tory youth wing who was Rob Halfon’s lover and a close ally of scandal-hit Mark Clarke. In the messages, Paterson faces accusations that she has been bullying young Tory activists. She insists “there are reasons we do things” and that Clarke “gets very angry” when people make him look “bad”:

In one message, written before Elliott Johnson’s death and before Elliott and Clarke had fallen out, Paterson warns a Tory activist that she and Clarke “sanctioned” Elliott’s Tory youth gossip blog. She says threateningly: “just bare that in mind going forward”. Paterson then reveals she knows the activist has complained about her behaviour, claiming “things always will get back to me“:

In another separate message, Paterson warns a “young” Tory that she has the power to “protect” them, but “I can’t if you don’t do” what she orders:

Paterson’s claim that complaints about her conduct will “always” get back to her is interesting considering Mark Clarke also obtained the names of activists who had complained about him. The rest sounds like a bad gangster movie…

Nicola Sturgeon is considering action against scandal-hit Nat Natalie McGarry. The SNP leader told the BBC:

“Obviously I’m aware of the concern that Women for Independence has raised and has reported to the police about alleged discrepancies in their funding. These are of course very serious allegations. It’s also important to say that Natalie McGarry is adamant that she has done absolutely nothing wrong. Right now, beyond the generality of those concerns, I don’t have detail about the basis or the substance of them but I will consider and continue to consider the matter very carefully and if there is action I think the SNP are required to take then that action will be taken.”

Awkwardly, the complaints to the police about financial irregularities at McGarry’s Women for Independence campaign group were made by no fewer than seven SNP candidates. It is alleged that the only person with access to the group’s PayPal account, from which £30,000 went missing, was McGarry. The Glasgow East MP has since protected her Twitter account from public view, despite previously pledging to constituents that:

“Politicians need to be responsible to the people they represent, and that means being open and accessible … I won’t hide away behind closed doors”

Friends who can still see her tweets say her most recent posts are on her nuptial planning, buying a dress and going to wedding fayres. Meanwhile her Electoral Commission returns are being pored over as we speak…

The SNP wasted no time in throwing their disgraced MP Michelle Thomson under a bus during her property scandal back in September. The allegations surfacing against Natalie McGarry yesterday have also warranted a police investigation, so Scottish Labour have demanded consistency from Nicola Sturgeon:

Dear Nicola,

The allegations about missing donations to Women for Independence (WFI) are very concerning. The alleged involvement of the SNP MP Natalie McGarry only adds to the seriousness of this situation.

When details emerged about the police investigation into property deals involving the SNP MP Michelle Thomson you said: “There is now a police investigation under way into these matters… Michelle Thomson has decided to step aside from the SNP while that investigation is undertaken. I think that is the right thing for her to have opted to do.”

Given that it was right that Michelle Thomson’s membership of the SNP was suspended during a police investigation, can you confirm that it is also right that the same standard will now apply to Natalie McGarry? People in Scotland would be surprised if no precautionary action is taken against Ms McGarry, given the serious nature of the allegations and the involvement of the police.

Sturgeon said it was right for Thomson to stand down because she was being questioned as part of a police investigation. Well, now McGarry is facing a police probe as well. Will she last the day?

A very curious story developing up in Scotland, where an SNP MP is cooperating with the police after thousands of pounds went missing from her pro-Indy campaign group. Unpopular Natalie McGarry, the MP for Glasgow East, was one of the founding members of “Women for Independence”. According to the Daily Record, she “was responsible for looking after their finances in the early days”. Yet after tens of thousands of pounds went unaccounted for, McGarry’s lawyer was forced to confirm she would cooperate with a police probe:

Here's Aamer Anwar's statement on Natalie McGarry pic.twitter.com/ak75rQz7Sj

— Paul Hutcheon (@paulhutcheon) November 23, 2015

Even more curiously, McGarry this afternoon decided to ‘protect’ her Twitter account from being viewed by others, citing angry tweeters:

SNP MP Natalie McGarry comes off Twitter pic.twitter.com/FBomWPLeCC

— Felicity Morse (@FelicityMorse) November 23, 2015

Curiouser and curiouser…

The latest revelations in this morning’s Telegraph allege that a 22 year-old activist woke up in a Tory MP’s bed with no memory of the night before. One MP is threatening an injunction, and at least three others have been accused of inappropriately having sexual relations with young volunteers on Mark Clarke’s infamous RoadTrip campaigns. This is Guido’s handy flowchart of who has been bonking whom. It is by no means complete. If you woke up naked next to a Tory MP – or indeed are a Tory MP who woke up naked next to Mark Clarke – and can’t remember the night before, call Guido’s helpline on 0709 284 0531…