A UNIONIST troll account has provoked a fierce backlash from Scottish journalists on Twitter after claiming that Nicola Sturgeon vets the questions she will be asked at the daily coronavirus briefings.
Alexander Jardine, whose Twitter bio states there is "Nothing better than watching the Angry cult in meltdown", apparently referring to pro-independence supporters, tweeted the false claim yesterday around midday.
READ MORE: Iain Black: Why facts aren’t best way to change minds to Yes
Despite the tweet being a fabrication, which The National can vouch for having taken part in the daily briefings, it has attracted over 1400 "likes".
Jardine claimed: "Everyone wondering why @NicolaSturgeon is not asked harder questions at her daily briefings. The answer is 1 hour before she does them the questions are vetted so if she doesn’t like them they will be dropped. She then has answers ready for easy questions. Not a cult?"
This is complete nonsense FYI https://t.co/IXs0IwLSpV
— David Clegg (@davieclegg) July 6, 2020
David Clegg, the editor of The Courier newspaper replied: "This is complete nonsense FYI."
Clegg was joined in condemning the tweet by Paul Hutcheon, the Daily Record's political editor and Scotland’s Political Journalist of the Year, who simply said: "Just not true."
Gordon Chree, a senior reporter and presenter at STV, added: "Having asked questions at the @NicolaSturgeon briefing numerous times, I can assure everyone that not once have I ever been asked in advance what Q will be.
"Worth also saying that if I was asked to submit a question in advance then obviously I would refuse."
Worth also saying that if I was asked to submit a question in advance then obviously I would refuse
— Gordon Chree (@gordonchree) July 6, 2020
The troll account then went on to post about conspiracy theories linking George Soros with "mass murders and destruction of our country" and retweet anger directed at asylum seekers for their perceived "entitlement".
READ MORE: Asylum seekers say they were not allowed to speak to media
Jardine then posted again at around 7:30pm yesterday evening saying: "Just deleted around 30 cult and beggars that tried to slip thru the net today after my fabulous tweet about Sturgeon staging the daily briefings. Cult = Must try harder."
It received two likes.
It is unclear why the first tweet received such attention, given that the Unionist account ordinarily receives less than five likes per post.
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