“STAY classy.” This was a fuming Alex Cole-Hamilton’s response when Nicola Sturgeon was caught on camera celebrating the win of a young SNP candidate back at the 2019 General Election.
The First Minister’s outburst of joy went viral as Amy Callaghan took the East Dunbartonshire seat from then LibDem chief Jo Swinson (who had been touting herself as the next prime minister at the time).
Her critics were besides themselves. Cole-Hamilton was one of them, and now LibDem leader Ed Davey was too.
Scotland, I give you your first minister. 👇🏻 Stay classy. https://t.co/O0FIHyD5JS
— Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶 (@agcolehamilton) December 13, 2019
“She’s not very dignified is she?” Davey told Sky News. “I think that approach to politics, taking glee in someone else’s defeat in the way that she does, a very personal way, isn’t appropriate for the First Minister of Scotland.”
What’s more, Cole-Hamilton has complained about the footage of Sturgeon in the years following the election.
In November 2020, as the First Minister shared the clip in celebration of Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualification, he wrote: "I’ve got skin in the game, I know. But why use archive footage of yourself uproariously cheering the defeat and severed livelihood of a decent person? Are spontaneous outbursts of joy really that rare?"
READ MORE: FMQs: Nicola Sturgeon runs out of Christmas cheer – and patience with Douglas Ross
And again, during the tournament, the clip was used on social media. The MSP complained: "This is, once again, the footage of the FM cheering the defeat of Jo Swinson, but with a Scotland top photoshopped onto her and a Hamden park background filter. Is it really that hard to capture spontaneous outbursts of joy from someone who is on camera, literally every day?"
So we’ve established that Cole-Hamilton does NOT approve of politicians sharing clips of them celebrating their victories, as it is disrespectful to the losing side. Got it.
The Jouker was therefore surprised when the LibDems shared a pretty identical clip of Davey celebrating the huge North Shropshire by-election victory, in which his party overturned the Tories’ near-23,000 majority.
When you beat the Conservatives in a by-election, for the second time in one year.#NorthShropshire #NorthShropshireByElection pic.twitter.com/nrCSmBUnTu
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) December 17, 2021
Was this not hurtful to the poor Tory candidate who had been hoping to take the ultra-safe seat for his party after the Owen Paterson scandal? It seems this was not of major concern.
We’ve asked the Scottish LibDems if Cole-Hamilton will be condemning this clip of Davey “uproariously cheering the defeat and severed livelihood” (in his own words) of the other candidates.
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