THE SNP is facing criticism after hiring a press officer who appears to make fun of domestic violence in social media posts.
The party's Holyrood group recruited Boab Thomson for its communications team despite him saying he wished he had a wife so he could "slap her about the place".
Mr Thomson, who is due to start at the Scottish Parliament next month, said he was “buzzing” about the change after four years working for Universities Scotland.
He had previously worked as a constituency assistant to former SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh.
However within hours of announcing his new job, he locked his Twitter account after other users highlighted previous misogynistic and expletive-laden posts.
In November 2014, a tweet from his @boabyyy account said: “Wish a had a wife so a could take it out on her, slap her about the place and that”.
Another from April 2015 said: “Would actually s*** a women for some salt and chilli chicken right now”
Another from August 2015, apparently posted to a female friend, said: “‘I’ll kick f*** out ye, but I’ll make love to you afterwards’."
A Facebook post from July 2015 said the phrase “She’s got all the self esteem of a battered housewife” was “Still our favourite saying, and it’s still true”, followed by three crying-with-laughter emojis.
The Scottish Government is currently deciding whether to make misogyny a specific hate crime.
Cynthia Guthrie, a former SNP office bearer who stood for Alex Salmond’s Alba Party in May, said “the vetting and recruitment standards of the SNP need urgent review if these tweets are considered acceptable for someone recruited to the post of Comms Officer”.
I see the new SNP Comms Officer is up to the usual impeccable high standards. pic.twitter.com/zpKABOTC80
— Agent P 🏴 🇬🇧 (@AgentP22) August 16, 2021
Mr Thomson didn't deny sending the posts but told the Herald he didn’t remember doing so as it was so long ago.
Asked if he was still taking up the post with the SNP, he said that was “under discussion”.
Asked if he was sorry for what he did, he said: “Yes.”
The SNP has been asked repeatedly for comment.
The party’s back office operation, which is overseen by Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, is currently being investigated by the police over its finances.
In July, Police Scotland launched a formal investigation into potential criminality involving SNP fundraising.
It followed the SNP raising more than £660,000 since 2017 specifically to fight an Indyref2 campaign, but spending some of the money on other thingds in the absence of another independence vote.
The party has said it is cooperating fully with the probe.
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