A TORY MSP who condemned Nicola Sturgeon for making foreign state visits has been accused of an outrageous feat of hypocrisy after going on an overseas trip.

The Herald has revealed that Jamie Greene, who has publicly lambasted the First Minister for visiting the US, Canada and Catalonia, is currently in the Caribbean.

Skipping proceedings at Holyrood, the West of Scotland MSP is in the British Virgin Islands to act as an election observer in a trip organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s British and Mediterranean Region.

According to the Herald, photographs of a sunburned Greene in an open-neck shirt have been published by a news agency.

He has claimed on Twitter that Sturgeon was using foreign trips as an excuse to promote independence at the taxpayer’s expense.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon on Brexit, her trip to America and an indy Scotland

Last week, he posted an image of a doctored boarding pass with the First Minister’s name on it, stamped by the message: “paid by the tax payer”.

The accompanying message read: “If Nicola Sturgeon wants to go to the US to talk about independent then the #SNP should pay for it. The Scottish taxpayer should not be left with a bill of thousands of pounds so that the First Minister can fly first class, grandstand and talk up #indyref2.”

Last August, using a similar image, he tweeted: “The Scottish taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for Nicola Sturgeon to jet off to Barcelona to talk about independence. If she wants to go to Catalonia then the SNP should pay for it!”

Fellow Tory MSP Maurice Golden referred to the US visit as a “jaunt”.

An SNP spokesman said: "We don't have an issue with politicians visiting other countries to promote trade, to build closer relationships or to undertake the valuable task of observing elections. But we do have an issue with such manifest hypocrisy.

"Jamie Greene was among the loudest critics of the First Minister's recent visit to the United States and Canada, where she was drumming up business and investment for Scotland.

"Just days later he's off to one of the popular tourist destinations in the Caribbean. I think the public will see that for what it is."

Greene is understood to be travelling home.