Joanna Cherry has accused an SNP colleague of spreading “lies and smears” that led to physical threats against her.
The Edinburgh MP told fellow Westminster politician Kirsty Blackman to “think hard again before you attack a colleague on social media” after she was subject to a threat on Monday night.
The threat came after Cherry was noisily sacked from the party’s front bench in the Commons in a move that exposed deep divisions in the SNP.
Blackman, formerly deputy Westminster leader of the party, was savaged after she expressed concern that Cherry had received a threat in the fall-out from the front bench reshuffle.
Cherry wrote: “Thank you for your concern but this is what can happen when you rile up your base with lies & smears. Actions have consequences so please think hard again before you attack a colleague on social media. #DeedsnotWords”.
Cherry dished out the same message to Kirsten Oswald MP, the party’s business convener, telling her publicly: “Thank you but this is what happens when you sanction & enable misogyny. Let’s have some action not just handwringing.”
Cherry and Blackman already had a public falling out over the gender identification row which is consuming the SNP.
Blackman attacked Cherry for her defence of a feminist activist, Sarah Phillimore, who suspended from the social media site.
Cherry, a highly regarded QC, labelled the exchanges on Phillimore “grossly defamatory” and “in breach of the SNP code of conduct.”
Cherry’s sacking and the online exchange once again brought divisions in the SNP over gender, the Alex Salmond investigation and the approach to independence into the open.
Cherry lost her prominent position as Home Office and Justice spokeswoman in an SNP front bench reshuffle on Monday in a clear signal that her dissent from the party line on gender identity and the approach to a second referendum would not be tolerated.
Cherry, along with pro-Salmond MPs Kenny MacAskill and Angus MacNeil, was sidelined in a reshuffle by group leader Ian Blackford. Meanwhile, the SNP is braced for the former First Minister to appear before a Holyrood committee accusing Sturgeon of misleading parliament.
