SNP MP apologises and deletes “Murdering babies wasn’t on the Nazi manifesto” tweet but second tweet seemingly comparing Tories to Nazis remains
A Scottish National Party (SNP) MP has apologised for, and deleted, a tweet in which he wrote that “Murdering babies wasn’t on the Nazi manifesto.” However, another tweet in which he appeared to compare the Conservative Party to the Nazis still remains on his Twitter account.
Peter Grant, MP for Glenrothes, posted the now-deleted inflammatory tweet last Thursday in reply to veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil after Mr Neil had shared a post from the Auschwitz Memorial. The post told of how a Jewish toddler from Hungary was murdered before his first birthday.
Mr Neil shared the post, adding: “As accusations of fascism are bandied about today like confetti by the ignorant, ludicrously devaluing the word of any meaning, a reminder of what real fascism can do. And of its unconscionable evil.”
Mr Grant replied to this tweet by saying: “You’re more right than you care to admit. Murdering babies wasn’t on the Nazi manifesto. Not until they’d been in power several years & stoked up fear & hatred against innocent citizens. Then, and only then, did they show their true colours.”
Mr Grant was heavily criticised for his tweet. Scottish Conservative Chief Whip, Stephen Kerr, said: “For an elected SNP MP to post this was hugely offensive as well as being completely inaccurate. It beggars belief that any elected representative would think this sort of language was appropriate as part of a political debate. It has absolutely no place in civil discourse. This was a warped tweet and gave a worrying insight into what this SNP MP believes. Peter Grant must urgently apologise and reflect on this shameful behaviour.”
Mr Grant posted an apology on Twitter for his tweet, writing: “I want to apologise unreservedly for a highly insensitive tweet I posted. While I strongly believe we must always be vigilant to the seeds of racism, antisemitism, and fascism, I deeply regret how I made that point and I have deleted the tweet.”
However, Mr Grant posted another inflammatory tweet only five minutes after his first, in which he appeared to compare the Conservative Party to the Nazis. Replying to fellow SNP MP Anne McLaughlin’s tweet, in which she also replied to Mr Neil’s post, Mr Grant wrote: “Nobody in Germany voted for the Holocaust. Murderous regimes don’t get elected because people deliberately vote for them. Elected governments evolve into murderous regimes very slowly and hope nobody will notice.”
While this tweet still remains on Mr Grant’s Twitter account, Ms McLaughlin’s tweet has since been deleted.
This is the third instance this year that reports of SNP members making gratuitous comparisons between a major political party to the Nazis have surfaced.
In April, an SNP candidate apologised after comments from 2017 emerged in which she had reportedly compared tactics by the Conservatives to Hitler and the Holocaust.
Two weeks later, it had been revealed that another SNP candidate posted a comment on Facebook comparing the Labour Party’s political strategy in Scotland to that of the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
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.
