RIFTS in the Scottish Greens are threatening to overshadow the party’s parliamentary election campaign as candidates accuse each other of lying and bullying.
The party’s leadership has told a group of candidates who claim co-convenor Maggie Chapman lied about her academic qualifications to “cease” and give “full backing” to the party’s campaign in the north-east.
But a motion at the party’s National Council on Saturday that would have deselected them was unsuccessful.
Last week Councillor Martin Ford, who is number two on the the regional list for the party in next May’s elections, accused Chapman, who is number one, of pretending to have a doctorate when she did not. Both the University of Aberdeen website and the Green Party website have at some point said Chapman has a PhD in Geography. Chapman, who studied towards a PhD, denies lying, and the party have said it was an administrative error.
Ford has the support of Debra Storr, who is number five on the list.
In a lengthy and damning post shared on the unofficial but popular and public Scottish Green Facebook group, David McNicol resigned as the co-convenor in East Lothian and accused the party of “cowardice” for failing to take action against the anti-Chapman group.
“Over the past seven months, a number of our members have been subjected to slander, bullying and intimidation. As a party, we have singularly failed to support those members who have been under attack and we have done so by cloaking ourselves in our Green principles of consensus-seeking and understanding. That is laudable at first, but as it becomes obvious that the attackers have no interest in stopping ... it gradually becomes an act of moral cowardice.”
A spokesman for the party said: “On Saturday our National Council examined a long-running complaint raised by a small number of members in the north-east of Scotland. The party conclusively rejected that complaint and determined that the processes questioned were sound and that the issue has been examined comprehensively. As such this matter has been drawn to a close.”
“Furthermore, the party is seeking immediate assurances from those involved that attempts to pursue the issue will totally cease and full backing will be given to our campaign in the north-east.”
Councillor Ford would only say that he does not use social media.
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