EXCLUSIVE: The Sands International Film Festival of St Andrews will return for a third edition set to run from April 19 – 21, 2024.
27.07.2023 - 03:57 / dailyrecord.co.uk
A businessman recruited to represent Scotland overseas is a Twitter troll who posts hateful abuse about politicians.
Thailand-based IT security expert James McLeary is part of the GlobalScot network, set up by the Scottish Government to promote the country overseas.
But he used his own social media profile to brand top MPs “traitors” and “quislings” – a reference to Nazi collaborators.
The Scottish Government is now probing the matter after being contacted by the Record.
McLeary, who says he is an SNP member and donor, called former PM Gordon Brown a “traitor” and ex-Scottish secretary David Mundell a “slimy- bearded ratbag”.
He also called Westminster an “English servile house of traitors”. The Stirling University graduate proudly claimed he was a GlobalScot “ambassador” in his profile. GlobalScot invites “passionate and experienced business professionals from around the world” to sign up.
The network claims to “help professionals use their skills, experience and connections to support Scottish businesses”. It boasts 1000 members across 60 countries who work on a voluntary basis and are vetted.
McLeary works as a chief information security officer for a financial and risk advisory firm with offices around the world.
His Twitter account, @JJamesMcL, posts links to Scottish political news as well as his own thoughts on politicians.
Responding to a tweet last year about David Mundell, the Tory MP for Dumfriesshire, McLeary wrote: “The slimy bearded ratbag is the most awful example of a state apparatchik there’s ever been. A quisling.”
In reply to a 2022 tweet about Gordon Brown, McLeary said: “Has there ever been such a rotten traitor to our country?” In a 2015 post, he called former Scottish secretary Danny Alexander a “Quisling
EXCLUSIVE: The Sands International Film Festival of St Andrews will return for a third edition set to run from April 19 – 21, 2024.
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