LABOUR have been urged to suspend a candidate for an “utterly disgraceful” attempt to score political points from the death of LibDem leader Charles Kennedy.
The SNP are demanding action against Adam Wilson, Labour's byelection candidate in the Annandale North byelection on Dumfries & Galloway Council on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Mr Wilson retweeted an attack on Nicola Sturgeon for leading tributes to Mr Kennedy given her party’s campaign against him in the 2015 general election.
Nationalist Brian Smith, who helped SNP candidate Ian Blackford gain the Ross, Skye and Lochaber seat, was forced to quit after calling Mr Kennedy a “drunken slob” and “Quisling”.
Mr Kennedy died less than a month after the election of an alcohol-related haemorrhage.
The tweet Mr Wilson circulated read: “Disgusting that Nicola Sturgeon will lead memorials on Charles Kennedy given her party mocked, insulted & hounded him to his tragic death.”
Accused the following day of trying to make “political hay” from Mr Kennedy’s death, Mr Wilson said: “I never wished to score points. I had great respect for Charles Kennedy.”
Andy Ferguson, the SNP group leader on the council, said: “To reduce Charles Kennedy’s death to a matter of political point scoring is offensive, and an insult to his memory.
“This type of rhetoric has no place in Scottish politics.”
However the SNP's election agent in the byelection, Councillor Rob Davidson, was once part of an internet smear campaign aimed at Labour.
In 2009, he admitted lying about his role in a pro-independence blog, the Universality of Cheese, which accused a married Labour MSP of cruising for gay sex, suggested a Labour councillor bullied women, and accused a QC of being a liar.
Mr Davidson initially expressed his “shock and dismay” at the blog, only for it to emerge he had offered it material and suggested targeting a Labour rival in what he called “black ops”.
The episode led to the SNP leadership cracking down on so-called Cybernats.
Labour said Mr Wilson would not be suspended.
A spokesman said: “Adam has made clear he was simply retweeting someone else’s point of view."
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