THE Tory councillor who called Nicola Sturgeon a “drooling hag” has been chosen to lead her group, which voted to support a Labour administration.
Fife’s local elections in early May saw the SNP group led by Councillor David Alexander win a decisive victory in terms of seats won, returning 34 councillors to Labour’s 20. The Tories lost seven seats to return just eight councillors, while the LibDems gained six to win 13.
Fife Council had been run by an SNP-Labour coalition before the elections, but Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s coalition “ban” saw a return to this set-up ruled out.
Instead, the 20 Labour councillors turned to the other Unionist parties in order to take power despite having their worst-ever result in their former stronghold.
The Tories, led by Councillor Kathleen Leslie, voted to support the Labour bid to control the council, claiming they wanted to work “collectively and constructively to get the best for the people of Fife”.
Without the support of Leslie's Tories, the Labour group would not have had enough votes to take control of the council.
Leslie previously hit the headlines after her personal attacks on the First Minister.
The Tory group leader called Sturgeon a “drooling hag” and “a wee fish wife” as well as making other offensive tweets.
Tagging the then-deputy first minister in post prior to the 2014 independence referendum, Leslie tweeted: “Wee Jimmy Krankie is a drooling hag.”
Sturgeon was further referred to as a “horror show” with a “grim face”.
Leslie also called Lottery winners and SNP donors the Weir family “uneducated fat f******”.
David Dempsey, another Tory councillor in Fife and a previous group leader, formerly defended Leslie’s comments, claiming: “Some of us may think the thoughts – she actively expressed them.”
The Tory group voted to hand Labour control of the administration in Fife, as did the LibDems.
Dempsey became a deputy provost after the vote.
SNP councillor Brian Goodall wrote to the council’s chief executive after a social media post put out by the local authority explaining how the three Unionist parties had voted together was later edited to remove any reference to different parties.
He wrote on Facebook: “Looks like Labour are already trying to re-write history to cover up their duplicitous deal with the Tories.
“It appears that Fife Council’s social media output was edited to remove the factual reference to the support from the Tories for Labour’s take over.
“I’ve written this morning to the Council’s Chief Executive to ask why this change was made and under whose instruction.”
The Conservative’s deputy group leader Darren Watt wrote on Facebook after the vote: “It's clear, the SNP group are more interested in conflict, division, and pursuing their separatist agenda rather than working constructively with all councillors to better the lives for the people who live, work and socialise in Fife.
“Labour are a minority administration at Fife Council and the Conservatives will seek to work amicably and productively to improve local services, but be in no doubt, we are still there to hold them to account.”
