SNP MP who defected to Tories went into hiding after death threats

A Scottish MP who defected from the SNP to the Tories said she had to go into hiding after death threats from nationalists.

Dr Lisa Cameron said she had no option but to move to a countryside “safe house” to protect her two daughters while extra security was installed at her family home.

The East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow MP received an email that said: “Listen... your time living on this earth will come to an end soon, be careful.”

An online troll threatened to brick her in the street, while another said they hoped she “burned”.

The 51-year-old said she “just couldn’t take the chance” that she would be murdered. Her friend Sir David Amess, the MP for Southend West, was killed in his constituency in October 2021.

Dr Cameron also told The Scottish Mail on Sunday she was never accepted in the SNP because she is a Christian.

She defected to the Tories last October in a move, engineered by Rishi Sunak, that sent shockwaves through the SNP.

‘Politics has descended into such depths’

Referring to the threats she received, Dr Cameron said: “I thought ‘I have to protect my girls’. I had to move the family out of our home while our house was fitted with security measures.”

The Houses of Parliament security detail installed reinforced doors and windows and four panic alarms in her home.

She said: “The divisions in politics today, and particularly Scottish politics, are really quite upsetting.

“We’ve had situations where politics has descended into such depths that good MPs across the parties, such as Jo Cox and David Amess, who I was very friendly with, have lost their lives for serving their constituents, and I just couldn’t take the chance. That is a very sad place for our politics to be.”

At the time of her defection, Dr Cameron disclosed that she had required counselling after standing up for a young staffer who was sexually harassed by Patrick Grady, an SNP MP, claiming she was shunned by colleagues.

She said she had also needed antidepressants and suffered panic attacks after being ostracised by colleagues.

‘Red flag’

Dr Cameron told The Scottish Mail on Sunday that another “red flag” was the party’s treatment of Kate Forbes, a devout Christian, when she stood for the SNP leadership last year.

Ms Forbes said she would have voted against legalising gay marriage if she had been an MSP in 2014, prompting John Swinney, who was then deputy first minister, to question whether her views were appropriate for an SNP leader.

But Dr Cameron said: “The way people withdrew support from her made me feel that Christian views are maybe tolerated to some degree but not accepted within the party.

“I don’t want to be tolerated as though there’s something wrong with me. I want to be, as a Christian, accepted.”