IF you’re an MSP who is about to criticise your closest political allies, make sure you’re doing it in private.
That is a key lesson which Tory MSP Stephen Kerr needs to learn after an almighty blunder saw him publicly call Murdo Fraser’s leadership campaign “awful”.
Kerr apparently believed he was sending private messages to a “close friend”, but was in fact posting his comments as WhatsApp statuses, allowing everyone in his contact book to see them.
Not only did Kerr call Fraser’s campaign “awful” – he then backed it. What does that say about the other five contenders?
An amazing story which we need to talk about. Stephen Kerr's WhatsApps slagging off his ally Murdo Fraser's leadership campaign were leaked. It turned out that he was posting statuses rather than private messages. Meaning all of his contacts saw this: pic.twitter.com/QiZcQB0kqp
— Laura Webster (@LauraEWebsterr) August 14, 2024
But apparently Kerr has had some regrets.
“I’m beginning to wish I’d nominated Meghan,” he said in one status, a reference to the Meghan Gallacher standing against Fraser to become Scottish Tory leader.
And Graham Simpson was also in the firing line, as Kerr confided in literally everyone that his MSP colleague “knows zilch about working with councillors”.
Kerr’s unfortunate WhatsApp statuses sparked hilarity online, with Politico’s Bethany Dawson writing: “I think I’d simply change my name and move countries.”
"This is one of the funniest political stories i've ever seen," a second user wrote.
“Today is the day I found out you can do status updates on WhatsApp,” another added, apparently offering Kerr some semblance of sympathy.
Others shared an image memorably tweeted by the Scottish Parliament back in 2022 which appeared to label Kerr “potato with more vitamin C than a lemon”.
It's never a bad time to be reminded of that.
.@jameshuttoninst predict that gene-editing technology could result in potatoes with more vitamin C than lemons being grown.@realstephenkerr's Members' Business debate will focus on gene-modification and gene-editing this afternoon. Watch here: https://t.co/FA6JAJbAwT pic.twitter.com/tuHlDsCxaV
— Scottish Parliament (@ScotParl) November 8, 2022
