SNP candidate’s comment comparing Goebbels and the Labour Party’s political strategy in Scotland “diminish the meaning and memory of the Holocaust”
It has been revealed that a candidate for the Scottish National Party (SNP) posted a comment on Facebook comparing the Labour Party’s political strategy in Scotland to that of the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
Colm Merrick, the SNP candidate for Eastwood in Glasgow, the seat representing Scotland’s largest Jewish community, reportedly shared a post in February 2015 in connection with an article. In the post, Mr Merrick wrote: “Analysis of UK Labour in Scotland’s election strategy…becomes truly terrifying when the following potential source of its inspiration is considered: ‘If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it’.”
The quotation is attributed to Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler’s closest henchmen and Reich Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi Party.
Mr Merrick has since apologised, saying: “I am sorry for this stupid post I made over six years ago.”
Within the last fortnight, another SNP candidate was forced to apologise after comments from 2017 emerged in which she had reportedly compared tactics by the Conservatives to Hitler and the Holocaust.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is the second time in as many weeks that past comments by current SNP candidates have emerged comparing a major political party to the Nazis. Last time it was the Conservatives and Hitler, this time it is Labour and Joseph Geobbels, the mastermind of Nazi propaganda.
“Such trivial equations of today’s politics with the darkest period in human history diminish the meaning and memory of the Holocaust. This is the opposite of the example politicians are supposed to be setting, both about Holocaust education and how to conduct public debate.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
