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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Abbi Garton-Crosbie

Tory defector Lisa Cameron given Scotland Office job weeks after quitting SNP

TORY defector Lisa Cameron was given a job as an assistant to Alister Jack in the Scotland Office just weeks after quitting the SNP.

The East Kilbride MP, who joined the Conservative benches in the House of Commons in October, was reportedly given the job of parliamentary private secretary (PPS) for the Scottish Secretary last month.

According to the Daily Record, the Scotland Office confirmed Cameron’s appointment on Tuesday and admitted she was given the job just weeks after defecting.

A PPS is a role generally given to a backbencher to be the “eyes and ears” of the minister in the Commons and is unpaid.

It comes as the Foreign Office confirmed that they will be leaving their offices in East Kilbride to move to a site in Glasgow, described as a “hammer blow” to the community by local SNP MSP Collette Stevenson.

It’s understood that Cameron joined Jack at Scotland Questions in the Commons on November 29.

We previously told how Cameron claimed she was shunned by other SNP MPs at Westminster after challenging the support given to Patrick Grady, who was suspended from the Commons and forced to apologise after being found to have acted inappropriately towards a party staffer.

Cameron claimed the mood in the Westminster group was “toxic” and impacted her mental health.

Her latest appointment prompted a furious response from her former SNP East Kilbride colleagues.

Grant Costello, who will contest the East Kilbride seat for the SNP at the next General Election, and won the selection contest against the incumbent MP, said: “Lisa Cameron's acceptance of a government job at the same time the UK Tory government are scrapping their promises to the people of East Kilbride is beyond belief.

“She should be fighting for people's jobs at Abercrombie House and to keep them in EK - not her own promotion.”

Cameron had previously threatened to resign as an MP and trigger a by-election in the seat if she did not win the SNP nomination for the seat.

She voted with the Conservatives for the first time on October 17, backing a UK Government amendment to the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill.

Cameron later claimed that she was “exhausted by nationalism” after joining the Tory benches.

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