THE SNP have been accused of aping Donald Trump by launching a “dangerous” attack on the freedom of the press in their latest party political broadcast.

The broadcast, shown on TV on Thursday, appears to lampoon one of the most prominent media commentators on the SNP, the journalist and historian Dr David Torrance.

The short film shows a character called “Davey” who sports the same glasses and beard as Dr Torrance being ridiculed and abandoned by people at a party for not admiring the SNP.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats said the broadcast was a sinister tactic for a governing party, and compared it to President Trump’s effort to humiliate and silence his critics in the press.

MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton, who has tabled a motion at the Scottish Parliament condemning the film, said: “It’s a worrying development when a governing party use Trumpian tactics to ridicule prominent journalists who rightly scrutinise both their achievements in office, and their lack thereof, and challenge the case for independence.”

Mr Cole-Hamilton has also written to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom asking it to investigate whether the broadcast breached its ethics and accuracy rules.

With a weekly column in the Herald, Dr Torrance is a well-known commentator on the SNP and its history, and is often sceptical of its arguments, particularly its case for independence.

A prolific author, he has written unauthorised biographies of both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, as well as books on the the Scottish Secretaries, Lord Steel and Thatcherism.

The SNP’s party political broadcast (PPB) plays on the famous scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian where people ask “What have the Romans ever done for us?”

Set at a house party, the PPB shows the Davey character asking what the SNP have ever done, only to be bombarded by examples of SNP policies, such as free tuition.

“Mind, Davey’s banging on about politics again,” says one person to another.

Some of the policies cited pre-date the SNP entering office in 2007.

After Davey continues to question the SNP’s record, he turns around to find everyone has walked out on him.

Nicola Sturgeon then appears in a doorway to lecture him some more.

In a final humiliation, Davey then opens a can of lager which sprays him in his face.

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Mr Cole-Hamilton’s parliamentary motion also criticises the PPB for claiming credit for policies created under the previous Labour-LibDem coalition of 1999 to 2007.

It states: “The broadcast appeared to lampoon prominent Scottish journalist and commentator David Torrance in a scene depicting a party where he invited guests to list achievements of the SNP in 10 years of government.

“The achievements claimed on behalf of the SNP government in the broadcast included, among other policies not instigated by the current SNP Government, the introduction of free personal care for the elderly.. this policy was brought in before the SNP took office, in 2002.”

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The motion adds: “For a governing party to appear to mock a journalist, using a free broadcast on public service television, in such a way, thereby inviting its supporters to do so, represents a dangerous challenge to freedom of the press.

“It is inappropriate and wilfully misleading for a government to claim credit for the achievements of others to bolster its record after 10 years of office.”

In a separate letter to Ofcom chairman Lord Burns, Mr Cole-Hamilton complained the broadcast had cited policies created before the SNP came to power.

He wrote: “I believe that it is inappropriate and wilfully misleading for a government to claim credit for the achievements of others to bolster its record after 10 years in office, and to use a free broadcast on public service television to do so.”

He added the apparent lampooning of Dr Torrance “may be a matter of concern under the broadcasting code”.

Dr Torrance said: “I find it hard to believe an established political party like the SNP would be so insecure and puerile as to depict a political commentator in one of its broadcasts.

“Besides, the real David Torrance would have pointed out that they were claiming credit - not for the first time - for policies that had nothing to do with their decade in government.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “As the party broadcast demonstrates, the SNP have worked hard to deliver for the people of Scotland -  meanwhile the few remaining Lib Dems devote their time to conspiracies theories such as this.

“David Torrance is not the only person in the country with a beard and hipster glasses.”