Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

COURIER OPINION: Patrick Grady scandal exposes SNP’s arrogant side

Patrick Grady
Patrick Grady

The Patrick Grady scandal raises a raft of troubling questions that should give any SNP supporter cause for concern.

The Glasgow North MP yesterday resigned his party membership after the police launched an investigation into sexual harassment allegations.

Why on earth he was still a member of the SNP up until that point is anybody’s guess.

Grady was suspended from Westminster for two days earlier this month after a parliamentary inquiry found he had acted inappropriately towards a male SNP staff member.

The party had known of the claims for years and done nothing.

That was bad enough, but the decision to stand by him even after the results of the Westminster probe were known was inexplicable.

Under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon, the nationalists have been beset with controversy over their handling of sexual harassment and bullying allegations.

The criminal trial of former leader Alex Salmond – at which he was acquitted of all charges – revealed several allegations from civil servants were swept under the carpet during his time in government.

Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly expressed regret over that unsavoury episode and promised to make the SNP a zero-tolerance environment for harassment. Recent events have shown those to be hollow words.

Out of touch

Salmond aside, Grady is the third male SNP politician whose behaviour has been found to have fallen short in recent years.

Former Aberdeen Donside MSP Mark McDonald was sanctioned by the Scottish Parliament after sending an “inappropriate” text message to a woman, while ex-finance secretary Derek Mackay disappeared from public life after a tabloid exposed a series of messages he sent to an underage boy.

In both of those cases the culprits were cut adrift from the SNP once the allegations emerged. Their careers were effectively ended by their misjudgements.

In contrast, the SNP did everything in its power to protect Grady.

There is a pervading sense that political calculations have shaped the response from a party whose prolonged period in power has made it arrogant and out of touch.