THE Tories have been forced to suspend a senior party member after she made a sick jibe about Nicola Sturgeon's miscarriage.
In an horrific exchange on Twitter, Jane Lax, the party's treasurer in Moray, traded jokes about the SNP leader’s baby loss with anonymous internet trolls.
Ironically, it kicked off on Tuesday evening when notorious Unionist account Agent P shared an interview in which Sturgeon detailed the abuse she receives online.
“The GERS figures must be imminent,” Agent P declared.
Replying, another anonymous account, Femme Sag #2135 on the list #NOTMYFM, tweeted: “Has she mentions [sic] her fictional miscarriage yet?”
Lax then replied: “Is that when she dropped a book?”
An SNP source called on the Tories to act.
“This is an appalling tweet, and Ms Lax should be utterly ashamed of what she has said.
“She should apologise unreservedly – but that shouldn’t be the end of the matter.
“Ms Lax should be expelled from the Scottish Tories – and if action isn’t taken against her, given the vile nature of her comment, it will allow everyone to see what kind of party they are.
“Ruth Davidson has been keen to highlight social media abuse in the past, but if she fails to condemn this then it will expose her hypocrisy for all to see.”
A spokesman for the Tories said: “These comments are unacceptable. Her membership will be suspended pending a disciplinary procedure.”
Lax – who was out campaigning with the party just days ago – could not be reached for comment.
The activist was at the centre of a storm earlier this year when she was one of four Tories in the audience for an edition of Question Time broadcast from Elgin.
READ MORE: BBC defends Question Time bosses after ex-Tory MSP appears in audience
She is a prolific tweeter, with more than 13,000 tweets to her name.
On Monday, speaking at an Edinburgh Festival Fringe event, the First Minister said some of the abuse she receives on Twitter "would literally make your hair curl. It’s horrible, misogynist, really filthy, disgusting stuff.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon tells of ‘disgusting misogynistic’ abuse on Twitter
Sturgeon revealed in 2016 that she and husband Peter Murrell had lost a baby.
In an interview for the book, Scottish National Party Leaders, the First Minister told of how she had suffered a miscarriage when she was 40, shortly before the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election campaign.
In a statement released following the publication of extracts from the book in the Sunday Times magazine, the First Minister said: "This was obviously a painful experience for Peter and I and while [book author Mandy Rhodes] has known about it for some time, she has always respected our decision not to talk about it publicly.
"I gave her the go ahead to make reference to it now in the hope that it might challenge some of the assumptions and judgements that are still made about women – especially in politics – who don't have children.
"There are many reasons why women don't have children. Some of us simply don't want to, some of us worry about the impact on our career – and there is still so much to do, through better childcare, more progressive working practices and more enlightened attitudes, to make sure we don't feel we have to choose.
"And sometimes, for whatever reason, having a baby just doesn't happen – no matter how much we might want it to."
She added: "For me, as for many women, all of these things have been true at different times of my life – the point is that judgements and assumptions shouldn't be made about what are personal choices and experiences."
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