Breaking News: Stuart MacLennan sacked by Labour

Jim Murphy has done an amazing and swift (ish) u-turn and has now sacked Stuart MacLennan as Labour's candidate for Moray.

So, not long after my initial blog post, the first candidate of the campaign has gone.  Is Stuart the first candidate to be sacked because of twitter?

A message to all of those candidates on Twitter - your thoughts and comments are no longer your own!

Here is the official statement by the Scottish Labour party:

"Stuart MacLennan has been sacked as Labour's candidate for Moray for the totally unacceptable language which he has expressed online. On reading the comments in full, the Scottish Labour Party was outraged by their content and Scottish Labour's General Secretary took the decision to suspend his membership of the Labour Party. Stuart MacLennan is no longer a Labour Party candidate nor eligible to hold office as a Labour Party representative."

Labour candidate in Moray, Stuart MacLennan in Twitter ranting shame

If you want to read in detail the shameful expletives of the Labour candidate for Moray, Stuart MacLennan then you have lost your moment, as his twitter account has now been removed.

His rants were even aimed at those from his own party, plus voters in Moray.

He described fellow Labour Party Member, MP, Diane Abbott as "a f****** idiot".  In today's Sun, it goes on;

In one post the 24-year-old complained of being in a pub full of "depressed teuchters" then poked fun at elderly voters by branding them "bloody coffin dodgers".

And despite calls for his resignation Labour are keen for him to stay on according to the most recent tweet of Laura Kuenssberg from the BBC.

Jim Murphy says Stuart MacLennan will continue to be Labour candidate in Moray despite Con and SNP calls for him to go.

 You can read the full story here.

Ironically, ranting MacLennan - a policy researcher for Labour at Holyrood - also hinted his own political hopes could be ruined by using the internet to discuss politics.

He wrote: "Iain Dale (Tory blogger) reckons the biggest gaffes will likely be made by candidates on Twitter - what are the odds it'll be me?"

 The Evening Standard's Paul Waugh, has more including the screen grabs here.

Jamie Paterson, the Scottish Liberal Democrats candidate for the Moray seat, added: "I don't know how the Labour candidate expects to get elected using this language."