Dr Tim Rideout, an economic adviser to the SNP and member of the party's policy development committee has been suspended and reported to Police Scotland after hurling racist abuse at Home Secretary Priti Patel and her family’s rich cultural background. This is, tellingly, not the first time the Scottish Nationalists have been involved in high-profile racist incidents over few years, with Janey Godley having been involved in a number of racist incidents just last year. The SNP claims to be the party that fights racism and intolerance, is it perhaps time for it to look at itself?
Replying to a tweet regarding the Home Secretary’s concerns about immigration security with the open border between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Dr Rideout, who runs a group studying currency prospects in an Independent Scotland, replied:
“So how do we send this person back to Uganda? Clearly hasn't a shred of humanity. Mind you, maybe the new proposed refugee centre on St Helena might avoid inflicting her on anyone.”
This is a reference to Priti Patel’s cultural heritage, with her parents having been born in India and emigrated to Uganda before Patel’s birth in the United Kingdom. The use of this rich cultural background as a means for attack is not only desperate, but dangerous, and the suggestion that individuals of different ethnicities should ‘go back to where they came from’ is a type of rhetoric found only in the darkest aspects of society. Rideout has since been immediately suspended from the SNP pending further investigation. Since then, his tweet – which has not yet been removed - was reported to Police Scotland and is currently under investigation.
Speaking at First Minister’s questions, Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Gosal, Scotland’s first ever female Sikh MSP, challenged the First Minister on this, saying:
“Such comments have no place in society, let alone in political debate. I welcome that the SNP has taken quick action in suspending and launching an investigation into Tim Rideout’s conduct but racism is never an isolated incident and this is something all parties must condemn. Will the First Minister assure BAME communities in Scotland and the broader public that her party will root out and condemn toxic racist political discourse?”
Despite Sturgeon brushing Gosal’s question off as “an issue for all parties”, the fact remains that the Scottish National Party and the independence movement as a whole has a real issue with racism and holding racist individuals to account. Moreover, the Scottish Green Party have just now deleted their podcast starring Dr Rideout and his fanciful discussions on an Independent Scotland’s economic prospects. Once is an accident, but the frequent occurrence of racist incidents from individuals who hold positions of influence and power within the political party running the Scottish Government should be of great concern to all of those who seek to live in an open and tolerant Scotland.
Pam Gosal is right, racism is never an isolated incident and we must begin to now seriously consider the views and opinions of the people who hold power in the Scottish National Party and as Scotland’s real alternative, the Scottish Conservative Party will call out racism wherever we see it.