Alex Salmond’s Alba Party has been urged to expel a Fife election candidate who described Vladimir Putin as his “hero” and said trans people should have their genitals removed “by law”.
John Jones – who announced he was running for a seat on Fife Council on March 7 – used social media to back the Russian president and describe NATO as “the North Atlantic Terror Organisation”.
Alba confirmed Mr Jones will no longer stand in the Lochgelly, Cardenden and Benarty ward at May’s local council elections.
And it has been urged to kick him out of the party entirely.
It comes after we revealed how a former Polish politician once touted as a prospective candidate for Alba in Aberdeen appeared to justify a Russian invasion of Ukraine as self-defence against a “collapsing Nazi-oligarchic Ukrainian state”.
Alba under scrutiny
Konrad Rekas, whose previous political party was raided on spying charges, also called for the Polish government to work with the Russians to move its own border east into Ukrainian territory during the conflict.
Alba claims tweets shared by the Aberdeen Alba Twitter account describing Mr Rekas as a candidate were a “misapprehension”.
Alex Salmond suspended his chat show on the Russian state-backed RT station last month following the invasion of Ukraine.
But his party has faced scrutiny over apparently pro-Kremlin views shared by some of its members and activists.
‘Shameful views’
In social media posts which mirror some of the sentiments shared by Mr Rekas, John Jones claimed Russia was “defending itself against Nazis”.
Mr Jones deleted his Twitter account shortly after we published the findings of our investigation into Mr Rekas on March 9 but many of his posts remain publicly available on archive websites.
In one tweet, Mr Jones says that if Britain had acted in the 1930s as Russia is now in regards to Ukraine, then World War Two would not have happened.
In another, sent at the end of January, he praises Vladimir Putin, writing: “I wish my country had a leader like him.”
‘Putin is my hero’
Just nine days before the Ukraine invasion got underway, he writes of the Russian president: “How I wish he was our leader, standing up for his country”.
In December, he wrote: “Putin is my hero, standing up to the North Atlantic Terror Organisation, who are doing their damndest to create war in the world to sell armaments”.
The one-time Fife election hopeful also weighed in on other controversial topics, calling for “forgiveness” for David Goodwillie, the footballer whose signing for Raith Rovers caused national outrage.
Goodwillie was branded a rapist by a civil court in 2017.
Mr Jones also suggested he would have thrown a bottle of urine at trans rights activists had he been present at one of their protests.
In another post, Mr Jones said any trans woman seeking to obtain a gender recognition certificate should have their genitals removed “by law”.
Jones hailed as a ‘great candidate’
In a tweet on March 7 which mentioned the profile used to make the remarks, Mr Jones was hailed as a “great candidate” by Stephen Lynas, who is standing for Alba in Rosyth.
The party told The National newspaper that Mr Jones had withdrawn his candidacy before his social media activity came to its attention.
It described the posts – most of which were made between December and earlier this month – as “historic”.
Scottish Conservative Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser said: “Yet another individual with pro-Kremlin and shameful views felt his natural political home was to stand for Alba.
“While he may have voluntarily stood down, it is remarkable that Alba are claiming these as historic tweets when they occurred in recent weeks.
“Only last week another Alba activist was exposed for having pro-Kremlin views.
“It is clear that the party’s leadership need to be a lot more robust in clamping down on people in their organisation with these opinions, which are a gross insult to the people currently suffering a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.”
‘Entirely unacceptable’
Meanwhile, Labour MSP Neil Bibby said: “This is yet another example of the discredited Alba party fielding candidates that are entirely unacceptable for public office.
“Mr Jones’ disgraceful comments show that nothing – from Putin-apologism to homophobia – is unacceptable in Salmond’s Alba Party.
“Mr Jones must be expelled immediately from Alba and every effort must be made to root out all forms of extremism in the Scottish nationalist movement.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton previously urged Alex Salmond not to allow himself to be used as a “useful idiot” for Vladimir Putin.
He said: “This is a really quite shocking collection of views for someone who wants to get involved with Scottish political life to hold.
“It’s unsurprising that after Alex Salmond spent years working for Putin’s propaganda channel, characters like this are attracted to him.
“Mainstream politicians have a duty to call these bizarre views and make clear that Scotland stands against Putin’s invasion and in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”
The Alba Party has been approached for comment.