A HIGH-PROFILE legal battle between two leading Nationalist and Unionist figures is due to start in earnest tomorrow.
The defamation action brought by the blogger Stuart Campbell against former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale is scheduled for two days of debate at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Mr Campbell, 50, who has born in Stirling but has lived most of his life in Bath, runs the controversial Wings Over Scotland website.
He sued Ms Dugdale, Lothians MSP, for £25,000 last year after she accused him of making homophobic remarks - a charge he strongly denies.
Mr Campbell had tweeted about Tory MSP Oliver Mundell, whose father, the Tory Scottish Secretary David Mundell, came out as gay in 2016.
He wrote: “Oliver Mundell is the sort of public speaker that makes you wish his dad had embraced his homosexuality sooner."
A preliminary hearing has already decided that the case, before Sheriff Wendy Sheehan, will begin as a legal debate between the lawyers for each side, and neither Ms Dugdale or Mr Campbell is expected to be called as a witness this week.
Sheriff Sheehan could decide to dismiss the action or move to an evidential hearing.
An online provocateur since his early days as a computer games reviewer, Mr Campbell is seen by critics as a figurehead for so-called Cybernats, inspiring the most obnoxious elements of the Yes movement.
He is also notorious for previous comments about the Hillsborough stadium football disaster, blaming Liverpool fans for the 1989 crush which killed 96 people.
In 2012, he said “every single solitary person who died at Hillsborough was killed by Liverpool fans”, adding: “If nobody pushes, nobody dies.”
The official inquiry into the disaster concluded the 96 had been “unlawfully killed” following negligence by police officers at the ground.
David Duckenfield, the former South Yorkshire chief superintendent who was in command, is now being prosecuted for manslaughter.
Mr Campbell tweeted on Wednesday that Ms Dugdale’s defence “specifically cites Hillsborough as proof that I could never be defamed because I'm too vile”.
The SNP also featured in a recent defamation case at the Court of Session.
Former North Lanarkshire councillor Julie McAnulty is suing party activist Sheena McCulloch, who works for MSP Richard Lyle, for £100,000 after she accused her of racism.
Lord Uist is expected to give his judgment in the autumn.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article