SNP minister accused of backing 'smear' against nurse who attacked Nicola Sturgeon during TV debate

Nicola Sturgeon is under pressure to investigate a botched SNP attempt to discredit a nurse who lambasted her during a live TV debate after a Scottish Government Minister was accused of helping organise the smear.

The First Minister attempted to draw a line under the row by stating that Joanna Cherry, the incumbent MP for Edinburgh South West, had apologised for falsely claiming that the nurse was the wife of a Tory councillor and it was an “honest mistake”.

But the Conservatives alleged that Jeane Freeman, the Social Security Minister, had urged Ms Cherry to brief the attack on the nurse to the media in the debate’s ‘spin room’.

Murdo Fraser, a Tory MSP who was sitting next to the pair in the room, said he overheard their conversation and argued that “this smear operation points to something endemic in the SNP.”

The SNP said the allegation was untrue, only for Mr Fraser to provide the Telegraph with a detailed account of the discussion between the two senior Nationalists.

The Liberal Democrats said Ms Sturgeon must launch an immediate investigation into who sanctioned this “public mauling” after the nurse was subjected to a barrage of online abuse from the so-called Cybernats.

The row had echoes of a furore three years ago when one of Alex Salmond’s spin doctors briefed against the mother of a disabled child who hosted the launch of the Unionists’ campaign for the final 100 days of the independence referendum contest.

Their latest attack was directed at Claire Austin, an NHS Lothian nurse, who launched an impassioned attack on Ms Sturgeon over NHS pay near the end of the 90-minute BBC One Scotland debate.

The First Minister was left squirming with discomfort as the nurse described how she struggled to pay her bills and attended food banks to get by.

The tirade was immediately seized on by the media in the spin room, where representatives of each political party were present, including Ms Cherry and Ms Freeman. The QC, whose seat is being targeted by the Tories, told reporters that the nurse was the wife of a Conservative councillor.

Mr Fraser said: “I was sitting alongside Joanna Cherry as she claimed on the BBC that the nurse was the wife of a Tory councillor. She was being urged to say so by the Scottish Government's welfare minister Jeane Freeman.

“It was a disgraceful episode and Nicola Sturgeon and her party should be thoroughly ashamed. This smear operation points to something endemic within the SNP.”

He added: “Its supporters talk over critics, not listen. And the nationalists will always try to play the man not the ball. This kind of behaviour is utterly unacceptable.”

Ms Freeman was a senior political adviser to Jack McConnell, the former Labour First Minister, before switching to the SNP and winning election as the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon MSP last year. Ms Sturgeon immediately made her Social Security Minister.

An SNP spokesman said it was “not true” that she was involved but Mr Fraser told the Telegraph that the conversation between the two Nationalists took place almost immediately after the debate had finished.

He said a BBC reporter was preparing to interview him and Ms Cherry together when Ms Freeman told her SNP colleague that the nurse was the wife of a Tory councillor.

Mr Fraser said Ms Cherry asked Ms Freeman if that information could be used and the minister replied in the affirmative, saying she had checked with the party that it was accurate. Ms Cherry then repeated the claim during the BBC interview.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Liberal Democrat General Election campaign chair, said that “the online Nationalist army” had attacked the nurse within minutes of her appearance in the debate.

He said: ''The First Minister must launch an immediate investigation into who sanctioned this public mauling. Efforts to discredit the impartiality of a public sector worker went right to the top of the SNP, as shown by the comments made by Joanna Cherry, which were later retracted.”

Launching the Scottish Labour manifesto in Edinburgh, Kezia Dugdale, the party leader, said the SNP had tried their “usual dirty tricks” but they would not work this time.

In a direct challenge to Ms Sturgeon, she said: “Stop the muck raking. Stop the excuses. Listen to what the people of Scotland are telling you.”

Ms Cherry attempted to repair the damage on Sunday night by sending an apology to Ms Austin on Twitter. She said she had been wrong about “rumours” being circulated by nationalists on the social media website and it was “entirely right that your voice is heard.”

Ms Sturgeon insisted that she retained confidence in Ms Cherry during a campaign stop in Perthshire, saying: “She made a mistake, an honest mistake, and she apologised for that. In terms of the wider social media reaction, I don’t think it’s acceptable to make judgments about somebody’s background.

“The nurse on the debate last night was absolutely entitled to raise the issue that she did and, as I said, she raised an issue that I think is one of the biggest in this campaign, the level and value of real wages, not just in the public sector but in the private sector.”

The SNP was approached for comment about Ms Freeman’s involvement. As well as being criticised on social media, the Scottish Sun published photographs of Ms Austin on holiday in New York.

But, in a series of tweets, the nurse said she earned a salary of £22,345 and suggested that her "high days and holidays" which she shared on social media were paid for by friends and family.

Contrary to Ms Cherry’s claims, she said she was unmarried and, in a Facebook post, said she was “truly saddened” by the attacks on her as she had been trying to represent the views of all NHS staff.

Three years ago Campbell Gunn, then a senior special adviser for the Scottish Government, emailed the Telegraph attacking Claire Lally, who had appeared at a Unionist referendum event, saying that she was not a “normal” mother.

He falsely alleged that she was the daughter-in-law of Pat Lally, a former Labour Lord Provost of Glasgow. Ms Lally described how the torrent of online abuse she received left her in tears.

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