EXCLUSIVE
Tom Gordon
Scottish Political Editor
AN SNP candidate is facing claims of trying to cheat his way into Holyrood.
Andy Doig is alleged to have used insider information to canvas support from party members for weeks ahead of an internal selection contest in Renfrewshire South.
Furious local members have now complained to SNP HQ about dirty tricks, and urged that the Renfrewshire councillor is dropped as a 2016 candidate.
The row is particularly toxic for the SNP as it threatens to drag in the party’s rising star, Paisley MP Mhairi Black, as her Westminster seat overlaps Renfrewshire South.
Doig, 53, this weekend tweeted a picture of Black endorsing him as the candidate.
The infighting erupted on Wednesday after Doig won a five-way selection battle in which he finally beat Tom Arthur, the national secretary of SNP Youth, by around 300 votes to 250.
It prompted claims that Doig had gained an unfair advantage by soliciting support from members since May, despite the official campaign period running from August 1 to 24.
Emails obtained by the Sunday Herald show Doig, the depute leader of the SNP group on Renfrewshire Council, contacted members in late May with a political CV headed “Re-Elect Cllr Andy Doig - A Strong Voice for Renfrewshire South”.
In another email from June, Doig wrote: “Some weeks ago I informed the membership that I was seeking the SNP nomination… Since then I have been trying to talk to and meet as many members in the ward to put the positive case for my nomination”.
It is understood that at least three of Doig’s rivals for the candidacy - Arthur, Tracie McGee and Michelle Rodger - have filed complaints about Doig’s action.
Doig and his wife Audrey, who is also a Renfrewshire councillor, have been accused of using internal party data to canvas members by telephone, post and email.
Party insiders told the Sunday Herald that SNP HQ had been sent an alleged telephone ‘crib sheet’ used to drum up votes for Doig outside the campaign period.
One local SNP member said: “This has been dirty, sneaky, horrible. I’m walking away from the party if this does not go the right way. This is old politics. This is Labour mark 2.”
Another said: “If no action is taken by HQ there will be a revolt and members will just leave.”
However a senior SNP source downplayed the complaints in Renfrewshire South.
“We get dozens of these. It’s par for the course. You can’t take the politics out of politics.”
Doig, an alcohol addictions counsellor and healthcare chaplain, was the SNP candidate in Renfrewshire South in 2011, and came just 2587 votes behind Labour’s Hugh Henry.
Doig told the Sunday Herald that if members had complaints they should raise them with HQ.
Pressed on the allegations of cheating and dirty tricks, he said: “I deny these vigorously.”
However confronted with evidence of him issuing emails before the official contest, he said: “The people who are complaining, and it’s one person in particular, actually did the same thing. I’m really quite concerned. There’s been a campaign against me of personal vilification. I’ve received abusive emails. I’ve actually had to complain to HQ about abusive posts on Facebook about me. I just urge everybody in the party to get behind me as the parliamentary candidate.”
An SNP spokesman said: “The SNP’s candidate selection is an internal democratic process where the decisions rest firmly with our membership.”
Earlier this month the Sunday Herald revealed turmoil in the neighbouring East Renfrewshire SNP branch, where a potential challenger to the establishment candidate was blocked.
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