A MAN accused of calling an SNP colleague a “twisted bitch” is on the Holyrood payroll.
Coatbridge & Chryston MSP Fulton MacGregor has hired former “security consultant” Allan Stubbs to work in his Scottish Parliament office, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
Stubbs, 31, was recently the treasurer of MacGregor’s SNP branch in Coatbridge.
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Last September, local SNP members forced a vote of confidence in Stubbs, citing “serious concerns about his general behaviour and lack of professionalism”.
Such was the ill-feeling and feuding within the branch, Paisley MSP George Adam was brought in as a safe pair of hands in order to conduct a special meeting.
More than half the branch voted to kick Stubbs out, but because the vote fell short of the required two-thirds threshold, he carried on.
However three months later, Stubbs was the subject of another complaint, this time to SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, the husband of Nicola Sturgeon.
A female SNP member told Murrell of her “disgust and disappointment at the behaviour and attitude of Mr Allan Stubbs of Coatbridge SNP Executive branch”.
She said that at a party meeting on 4 December, Stubbs was asked about SNP North Lanarkshire councillor Julie McAnulty.
The complaint states: “Mr Stubbs replied by saying ‘Well, she’s just a twisted bitch!’”
The complaint goes on: “This was said in a loud, clear voice which could be heard across the room. There were new members in the room, as well as existing members, who appeared to be quite uncomfortable at this outburst, never mind Julie herself.
“I am disgusted by this behaviour and the aggression I witnessed from Mr Stubbs."
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The complainer received no reply.
In 2009, Stubbs was an SNP candidate in a North Lanarkshire Council by-election, but lost to Labour after McAnulty, then an independent, split the vote.
Stubbs last week answered the phone in MacGregor’s office.
Asked five times if he used the words “twisted bitch”, he did not deny it, but refused to discuss the matter before hanging up.
In 2008, Stubbs co-founded Saltire Marketing Ltd, describing himself as a “security consultant” on company paperwork.
The firm was struck off two years later without ever filing accounts.
McAnulty was suspended earlier this year by the SNP after being accused of making a racist remark - her supporters say she is the victim of a smear campaign.
A Labour spokesman said: “These are serious allegations and any use of misogynistic language is completely unacceptable. The SNP in Coatbridge have been a headache for Nicola Sturgeon for months now, with all sorts of accusations flying back and forth in a toxic atmosphere.
"People in Coatbridge will watch with interest to see if Fulton MacGregor becomes as big a liability as his Westminster counterpart Phil Boswell, who is rarely out the headlines.”
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An SNP spokesman said: “These allegations were made following a bad tempered branch meeting. The party continues to offer local members guidance and support about best practice in relation to branch meetings.”
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