Natalie McGarry: ‘I made a serious mistake and apologise unreservedly to Mr Cameron for any distress caused.’ [Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images].

Perhaps the announcement that Ms McGarry has had to pay around £10,000 for her unwise words would have discouraged some others for make broad generalisations along the same lines about some now-familiar Labour names.

Hindsight is wonderful thing – although anyone having to pay legal damages to people they have wronged may disagree.

The suspended SNP MP Natalie McGarry has admitted she made a “serious mistake” when she accused a pro-union campaigner of being an “outed Holocaust denier” on social media.

Alastair Cameron, director of the campaign group Scotland in Union, accepted McGarry’s apology, and agreed legal costs and a charitable donation, after the Glasgow East MP settled legal proceedings out of court.

In a statement that will be pinned to her Twitter account for the next fortnight, McGarry said: “On 6th March I tweeted that the Scotland in Union was headed by an ‘internet troll’ and an ‘outed Holocaust denier’. I made a serious mistake and accept there is no truth to those statements and apologise unreservedly to Mr Cameron for any distress caused.”

The payment, which the Guardian understands to be about £10,000, will go to the charities Combat Stress, Aegis Trust and Lumos after covering Cameron’s legal costs.

McGarry withdrew from the SNP whip last November after revelations linking her to an allegation that tens of thousands of pounds in donations may be missing from Women for Independence, the campaign group she helped found. She denies any wrongdoing and the police investigation is continuing.

In January, McGarry prompted another Twitter controversy after she accused JK Rowling of bullying, causing the Harry Potter author to threaten legal proceedings.

Source: Suspended SNP MP pays damages over ‘Holocaust denier’ Twitter row | UK news | The Guardian

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