Scottish Tories reject former UKIP leader David Coburn

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Mr Coburn said he wanted to work to "save the union", but has been rejected by the Scottish Tories

The Scottish Conservatives have rejected a membership application from former Brexit Party MEP David Coburn.

Mr Coburn, who was UKIP Scotland leader before joining the Brexit Party, said he wanted to help "save the union".

But Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw said past comments from the former MEP rendered him "incompatible with membership".

In 2015 Mr Coburn apologised after compared SNP MSP Humza Yousaf to convicted terrorist Abu Hamza.

First elected to the European Parliament in 2014 for UKIP, Mr Coburn led the Eurosceptic outfit north of the border until quitting in November 2018, accusing the party of "obsessing" over what he called an "anti-Islam platform".

He later joined the Brexit Party, but did not stand for them in the 2019 European elections. He later left that party too and urged people to back the Conservatives in the snap general election.

He told 大象传媒 Scotland he wanted to join the Conservatives to help Prime Minister Boris Johnson "save the union" in any second independence referendum, saying that "Scotland cannot afford the luxury of two Brexit parties".

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Mr Carlaw has now said he "can not and will not" support the application from the former MEP.

He said: "As leader I have to make it clear that past public comments by him are incompatible with membership."

Following these remarks, Mr Coburn told 大象传媒 Scotland he was issued with a membership card by the Scottish Conservatives "several weeks ago".

However Mr Carlaw replied that the application process "clearly states that membership is subject to confirmation".

He added: "Mr Coburn's membership has been rejected and any sum paid by him as part of the process will be refunded."

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Mr Coburn had "apologised profusely" for an "inappropriate joke" he made in 2015, when he referred to "Humza Yousaf, or as I call him Abu Hamza" in a newspaper interview.

MSPs voted unanimously to condemn the comments, and the SNP had called on the Conservatives to "reject Mr Coburn's membership and reflect on why they were attractive to him in the first place".