A Dundee councillor who shouted abuse at the Pope and called 9/11 an “inside job” has been accused of hypocrisy after backing a motion calling for a code of conduct for independence activists.
Siobhan Tolland, who sits on the SNP’s National Executive Committee, was elected in May to represent the Lochee ward.
We revealed previously that she travelled to Edinburgh in 2010 to shout foul abuse at Pope Benedict XVI .
Ms Tolland wrote on social media at the time that she felt “she might have gone a wee bit too far when she called him a c**t”.
A few days later, she added that her throat was “ah sair wi shouting”.
Terror attacks an ‘inside job’
The SNP councillor also referred to the September 11 terror attacks in the US as an “inside job” orchestrated by politicians and the media.
Ms Tolland deleted the posts after we exposed them, and a spokesperson for Dundee SNP said she was “very sorry”.
But political rivals criticised her for failing to make her own public apology.
It later emerged the SNP was warned about Ms Tolland’s “religiously offensive” behaviour 18 months earlier, including a Facebook profile picture where her face had been superimposed over an image of Jesus.
The picture was described by an opposition MSP as “highly offensive”.
Ms Tolland is now among those aiming to bring forward a motion at the SNP’s annual conference that calls for independence activists who fail to behave appropriately being excluded from training, development and media activities as part of the Yes campaign.
The motion – first revealed by the Sunday Herald – is also supported by party president Michael Russell, MSPs Karen Adam and Graeme Dey, MPs Alyn Smith, Pete Wishart and Hannah Bardell, as well as policy development convener Tony Giugliano and councillor Graham Campbell.
Councillor accused of hypocrisy
A Scottish Labour spokesman said the “hypocrisy” from Ms Tolland is “genuinely beyond belief”.
“When confronted with her own record of anti-Catholic bigotry and vile online abuse, she didn’t even publicly apologise,” he said.
“When Michael Marra asked that the SNP consider whether these comments were acceptable from a candidate for public office, he was subject to the same bigotry from the SNP in Dundee, who have also never apologised.
“Actions speak louder than words and in that regard, Ms Tolland is part of the problem not the solution.”
The SNP’s conference committee will make a decision in the coming weeks on whether the resolution should be included in the conference agenda.
Mr Russell, who is the lead signatory, said the aim of the code “is to ensure we have the highest standard of of campaigning at a time when there will be huge pressures on the national movement from the Westminster establishment”.
He said the idea of a code for the Yes campaign “should be welcomed” and that it “can only produce a better referendum, and I think a better result in that referendum”.
Ms Tolland did not respond to a request for comment.