A TORY businesswoman has been branded a “racist” after posting a "disgusting" rant about asylum seekers on social media.
Kairen Ruse, who backed Liz Truss to become prime minister earlier in the year, claimed a man she said was an asylum seeker burst into her shop earlier in the week and acted aggressively.
Police were called to the scene but a force spokesperson said no crime had been committed.
Ruse, who owns a boutique women’s clothing shop in Perth, took to social media after the alleged incident to report how an “unkempt foul smelling young man” had “charged into” her shop on Tuesday afternoon.
She said her dog Ted began growling at “what was obviously one of Perth’s asylum seekers”, adding: “There are apparently 110 of these individuals staying within hotels in [the] town centre”.
Perth and Kinross Council said it did not know how many asylum seekers live in the area.
Ruse said she chased the man out of Blues and Browns, in the city’s South Street, then “sat down and wondered what the hell has happened to my country”.
She said she felt “a deep anger that these people feel it is their ‘right’ to be in this country”.
Ruse went on to back comments by Home Secretary Suella Braverman who described the arrival of asylum seekers in the UK as an “invasion”.
She added: “The Home Office, the British Government, the Scottish Government, the Conservative Party (and I have been a Conservative all my life) won’t do anything to stop this invasion and Suella Braverman is right it is an invasion!
“I’ve been in business in Perth for 20 years. This is now a different Perth and a changed society. This has to stop.”
The post on the Blues and Browns Facebook page sparked a storm of criticism so fierce she felt moved to delete the shop’s account on the social media site.
Her Google reviews have been inundated with bad ratings, with users calling her a “racist” because of the post.
A typical review read: “Absolutely disgusted by the owner’s downright racism and hatred of people who she assumes are not Scottish.
“No words. Racism is for the lowest of the low. I really feel that Perth has no room for [businesses] that are clearly racist and action should be taken. A public apology.”
The National approached Ruse for further comment but she was unable to say how she had ascertained the man was an asylum seeker and said she would “not be put under this stress”.
actually sickening stuff from one of perths tory business owners - feel free to let them know how you feel on their facebook page pic.twitter.com/uKaJOV9pQm
— Scott (@scottfromperth) November 2, 2022
She added: “I’m still extremely traumatised over this and I don’t want to comment any further.”
A police spokesperson said: “We were called around 1pm on Tuesday, November 1, to a report of a man acting in an anti-social way at a premises on South Street, Perth.
“Enquiries were carried out and it was established that no crime had taken place.”
Blues and Browns opened in 2002 and sells bespoke shooting jackets, gilets, and wedding dresses.
Cardigans for sale on the businesses’ online shop fetch as much as £155.95.
In a story from the Scottish Daily Express earlier this year, Ruse said she felt “palpable hatred” from anti-Tory protesters who gathered outside the party’s leadership hustings in the city earlier this year.
She added: “They were bitter and eaten up with hatred for the English and the Tories. It was like watching the Village of the Damned."
