So, you have a row with someone on Twitter. Most of us would just shrug it off and get on with our lives. Not John Nicolson, the SNP candidate up against Jo Swinson.
After a Twitter exchange with Federal Policy Committee member Belinda Brooks-Gordon, he blocked her and then took the unusual step of writing to her employer.
The Daily Record has the story:
East Dunbartonshire hopeful John Nicolson sent a bizarre email to the master of Birbeck College in London after the fiery Twitter exchange with Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon.
The lecturer in forensic psychology is standing for the Lib Dems in the Cities of London and Westminster seat and had voiced her support for Nicolson’s opponent Jo Swinson.
Brooks-Gordon had referred to former BBC journalist Nicolson’s property portfolio in London and suggested he could return to the city and questioned his credentials as a local candidate.
Nicolson joined the Twitter exchange to rubbish the claim.
But he did not let the matter rest there and decided to send off an email to Brooks-Gordon’s boss at the college, which is part of the University of London.
Belinda made a very good point, asking what he would do if a constituent disagreed with him or criticised him. Would he be complaining to their boss, too?
To do that to an academic in someway feels worse than to any other form of employment because freedom of speech is so important.
“Is he going to be like that if he is an MP and anyone disagrees with him? It was clearly intended to frighten me off.
“I had heard about some of the goings on in Scotland but to get an email like that was unbelievable.
I have had the odd nationalist who’s fed up with me being a Lib Dem and having an opinion write to the party about me. In fact, after Wings over Scotland did me over a couple of years ago, one even wrote to the Better Together campaign. However, complaining to somebody’s employer is just way over the top. You don’t know how that employer is going to react. Is it really worth putting someone at risk of losing their job.
And if he has time to craft emails to people’s employers, he clearly isn’t doing enough campaigning.
If you are unimpressed by Mr Nicolson’s tactics, show it by doing something to help Jo tomorrow.
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14 Comments
A new low for the SNP – well done Belinda for standing up to this
The Scottish results tomorrow are going to be a different level of depressing :/
Hmmmm…. Presumably you’d condemn this just as much if a Lib Dem politician were to do the same thing?
James, I think I would.
Blocked within minutes of tweeting the above.
He’s as much a disgrace to journalism as Campbell Gunn and Iain Macwhirter even, and has dishonoured every single murdered journalist
It wasn’t really a row, I commented on his Wiki page that mentioned his home in London. The thing that the news article does not say is that he then had his Wiki page changed. An ill-advised move for a number of reasons, but it made me dig more deeply.
His Pinterest page, Facebook page and some posh rental pages were full of his properties. So he tried to cover it up and then tried to silence me. As a Liberal who believes passionately in freedom of speech I have posted the screen grabs on my Facebook page.
Well done Belinda!
Bel, I hope Birkbeck referred him to ‘Arkell v. Pressdam”.
>> my very short list of blocked correspondents
That’s clearly a lie. He blocks at the first instance.
Has anyone made the comparison to Yahoo grassing-up Shi Tao to Beijing, or of Raif BadawI?
Dear Lib Dem Voice.
A constituent told me about this thread. Please give me the opportunity to respond.
What Dr Brooks-Gordon says is simply untrue.
I own a terraced house in London which I bought when working as a journalist for the BBC. It was my home for many years. When I returned home to Scotland I rented it out..
I also have a bungalow in East Dunbartonshire where I live. It was left to me by my aunt eight years ago.
During the course of the campaign someone – obviously a political opponent – rewrote my Wikipedia page to say I’d “rented” a house in East Dunbartonshire for the duration of the campaign and didn’t really live there. Within a few seconds, Dr BG tweeted this re-written Wiki page.
I contacted Wiki, and they suspended the person concerned. I was not told who it was. I then wrote to Dr BG ( whom I do not know) to ask her to delete her tweet in which the accusation was made. She refused to do so, despite knowing that the content was false.
I did not “try to silence” her. She is welcome to tell the world I have a house in London and one in Bearsden. What she is not entitled to do is repeat a lie. I did not rent a house for the election.
So, in summary, Dr BG did not, as she says, “comment on my wiki page”. She tweeted a link to my page immediately after it had been rewritten to contain a falsehood intended to damage my campaign.
She also misleads by saying I had my wiki page changed. I did not. The wiki editors removed the false claim that I rented a house.
Why does this matter? Well, because I think politics should aspire to be an honourable business. I will do my best as an MP. However if I make mistakes in the next five years I will expect to be criticised.
In turn I will challenge my opponents’ records.
But what I will never do is tell a lie about my opponents. And if I get something wrong about them I will withdraw the allegation.
Dr BG has not apologised to me at any point since she wrote her comments above.
It’s especially disturbing that Dr BG, working as she does in a grand old institution like Birbeck, should behave in this tawdry way.
Best wishes,
John Nicolson M.P.
Watch out, LDV, we’ve concluded that he’ll do a Shi Tao on a member of public, but he’s not above either veiled threats against journalists. And him a journalist!
https://mercinon.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/is-this-snp-mp-threatening-a-journalist
Having to split this comment for length:
==> During the course of the campaign someone – obviously a political opponent – rewrote my Wikipedia page to say I’d “rented” a house in East Dunbartonshire for the duration of the campaign and didn’t really live there. Within a few seconds, Dr BG tweeted this re-written Wiki page.
Seconds? There was such an edit made by either Widr or JulianoZini (bit unclear about Wiki but the former remains active whilst the latter is suspended; although it looks more like the former did it) 25 April 2015 am.
Unless deletions have occurred, the exchange with Dr. B-G didn’t start until past nine o’clock at night.
https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3ABelindaBG%20to%3Amrjohnnicolson&src=typd
First mention I can find of your place of domicile was 9:19 pm:
==> I contacted Wiki, and they suspended the person concerned.
For one comment? There were just a handful of edits on your page during the whole of April, and the same individual doing no more than two edits.
==> I did not “try to silence” her.
Actually, you send a puerile sniggering e-mail to her employer – despite her Twitter profile carrying the caveat of views her own, and this being the tactic of a complete bounder – calling for her to be disciplined.
==> But what I will never do is tell a lie about my opponents. And if I get something wrong about them I will withdraw the allegation.
Oh, get a grip. If you think this was a heinous slight you really are too precious for front-line politics. And considering the multiple Smethwick 1964s which took place across the country, this is approaching zero significance. What is has shown is that you are extremely sensitive about *any* slight against your carefully crafted image as a man of the people (whilst traducing anyone who doesn’t vote SNP or YES).
Remind us what’s happened to Brian Smith.
==> I own a terraced house in London which I bought when working as a journalist for the BBC. It was my home for many years. When I returned home to Scotland I rented it out.. I also have a bungalow in East Dunbartonshire where I live. It was left to me by my aunt eight years ago.
It’ll be interesting in February to see your housing claims. Does your London property still have mortgage repayments? Are you able to claim those? Or are you continuing to rent out whilst staying elsewhere?
==> It’s especially disturbing that Dr BG, working as she does in a grand old institution like Birbeck, should behave in this tawdry way.
Back to Brian Smith. Then stop trying to grass people up to their employers because they have the temerity to disagree with you.
And stop reading the newspaper in the Chamber.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/china-shi-tao