SCOTTISH Labour are facing another internal backlash after a "Communist newspaper" was distributed at their party conference.
Images of the Morning Star draped over seats at the Dundee conference have appeared on social media and sparked anger among some members.
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The newspaper is considered by centrists in the party to be sympathetic to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and Vladimir Putin’s in Russia.
In 2016, Labour MPs condemned the paper for describing the fall of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, to Assad-supporting forces as a “liberation”. The UN raised concerns over human rights atrocities against civilians during the operation.
Labour Twitter users reacted with a mix of bemusement and anger after a Labour activist posted a photo of the conference hall filled with Morning Star copies.
Let's do this #ScotLab19 pic.twitter.com/QZHxUrL0sl
— Aaran McDonald (@AaranMcDonald) March 8, 2019
Labour member Anne J McCluskey commented: “I made the right decision not to attend then,” before asking: “What members were consulted about that being the official newspaper of the Labour party?”
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Duncan Hothersall, editor of a pro-Scottish Labour website co-founded by Kezia Dugdale, tweeted directly to the party. He asked: “Just wondering why in the whole wide world of f*** the stewards at #scotlab19 have apparently distributed copies of the communist, Assad-supporting, Putin-endorsing, Brexiteer newspaper The Morning Star to every delegate's seat?”
Former MP Tom Harris tweeted: "You have got to be shitting me! The f***ing Morning f***ing Star?! Please tell me this is a publicity stunt by the commies and has not been sanctioned by the party!"
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