LABOUR WEB ROW: ‘I WISH SALMOND’S FATHER WOULD DIE’
First Minister Alex Salmond with father Robert
Sunday April 29,2012
By Ben Borland
ALEX SALMOND'S 90-year-old father was yesterday forced to issue a defiant message after a twisted Labour supporter said online that he wished he would die.
The First Minister described the taunt as "pathetic" and the SNP called for the offending website, which is only open to Labour Party supporters and used by the Holyrood leadership, to be shut down.
The sick jibe was made by "Daniel Kelly", a member of the "Scottish Labour for Scotland" group on the social networking website, Facebook.
It came after Mr Salmond cancelled an appearance on the BBC's Question Time on Thursday night because he had to attend a family funeral the following day.
In a comment taken to refer to the death of the First Minister's elderly aunt, Kelly wrote: "Don't you wish his dear old dad did the same."
This person is in for a disappointment - there's no way I'm pegging out before the Cup Final
Robert Salmond
However Royal Navy veteran Robert Salmond, who was on board HMS Indomitable when she was torpedoed during the Second World War, said: "This person is in for a disappointment - there's no way I'm pegging out before the Cup Final.
"I've been waiting all my life for a Hearts/Hibs final, and I'm going to be there in three weeks' time.
"In any case, I survived the war so I can survive the comments of some nyaff on the Internet.
"I'm not into computers, so this stuff doesn't bother me - it just sounds like someone has a lot of growing up to do."
Ironically, the nonagenarian, who still lives in the family home in Linlithgow, West Lothian, was a Labour voter until he was put off for life by a rude canvasser.
His son, who spent yesterday campaigning in Fife and Glasgow ahead of Thursday's council elections, added: "This is the lowest of the low, just pathetic."
Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, her deputy Anas Sarwar, shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran and Tony Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell are all members of the Facebook group.
Labour officials insisted they had no knowledge of Kelly and did not believe he is a member of the party.
However, he identifies himself as a staunch supporter and is Facebook friends with Ms Lamont, Mr Sarwar and Mrs Curran, as well as dozens of high-ranking Labour politicians including former First Minister Jack McConnell, MPs Cathy Jamieson, Ian Davidson, Tom Harris and Tom Watson, and MSPs Jackie Baillie, James Kelly, John Park and Lewis Macdonald.
A spokesman for the SNP said: "Johann Lamont and Anas Sarwar should immediately resign from this website, which should also be shut down."
Incredibly, Labour attempted to distance themselves from the uproar and described it as a "desperate smear" by the Nationalists.
A spokesman said: "This desperate smear campaign falls at the first hurdle because this Facebook page is not owned, managed, or operated by Scottish Labour, and it will not detract from the rantings and ravings of SNP candidates - sacked or otherwise - online.
"Political parties are responsible for their candidates and officials, but members of the public must be responsible for their own behaviour."
Privately, officials said they found the comment "absolutely reprehensible" and urged the moderator of the Facebook page to have Kelly banned.
The party also insist there is a "substantive issue" about why Mr Salmond pulled out of Question Time in the wake of the revelations about him agreeing to lobby on behalf of the Murdoch empire.
Some critics believe the First Minister could have made it back from Romford, Essex, in time for his 92 year old aunt's funeral in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Friday morning
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/317 ... would-die-
