To Scotland, where the beleaguered Nats have appointed their third chief executive in two years. Yet Carol Beattie wasn’t able to celebrate for long after some of her rather unsavoury social media interactions aimed at the royal family were dredged up by her opponents. The most egregious example came after the Princess of Wales was praised for making a public appearance during her battle with cancer. At the time, Beattie reposted a tweet that made an apparent reference to the, um, guillotine, reading: ‘F*** all the way off with your gold-plated serfdom! Time for the French solution to monarchy.’ Charming!
The party’s new permanent CEO has since deleted the posts and apologised for any offence caused by her rather unedifying social media use – which included another example in which Beattie herself wrote that ‘intelligent people don’t support the monarchy’ and that royalists ‘use them as symbols of their bigotry or xenophobic values’. Not that her opponents have been convicted by her show of contrition, with deputy Scottish Tory leader Rachael Hamilton raging to the Telegraph that Beattie’s ‘offensive social media comments and association with disgraced figures ought to be enough to disqualify her from any political role. In the SNP, however, it seems to be the ideal qualification for waltzing into the top job’. Shots fired.
Beattie had initially taken the role on an interim basis in October after ex-Daily Record editor and ‘The Vow’ creator Murray Foote stood down. This is the same chief spinner who resigned from the party for the first time in 2023 after he inadvertently spread fabricated membership numbers to journalists. And of course Mr S trusts readers will remember the fate of the party’s longstanding CEO, Peter Murrell. The husband of Dear Leader Nicola Sturgeon was forced to step down after Foote’s fiery outburst – quitting after being told that if he tried to cling on, he’d face a confidence vote. A year later, he was charged with embezzling funds from the party.
What a track record for the job, eh? It seems Beattie’s promotion to the post may be less a blessing than a curse…
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