Jeremy Corbyn branded 'terrorist sympathiser' by heckling Church of Scotland minister

13 November 2019, 12:49

Jeremy Corbyn has been branded a “terrorist sympathiser” by a Church of Scotland minister and was asked why he wasn’t wearing an “Islamic jihad scarf” during a visit to a community centre.

The Labour leader was also asked “who’s going to be the first terrorist invited to the House of Commons when you’re Prime Minister” during the visit in Glasgow.

He was entering the Heart of Scotstoun community centre on Wednesday when he stopped to tell broadcasters about a scarf he was wearing, which had been given to him by representatives of the Who Cares Scotland charity.

But Mr Corbyn was interrupted by Richard Cameron, the minister at Scotstoun Parish Church, who shouted: "I thought you'd be wearing your Islamic jihad scarf.

"Do you think that the man who is going to be prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser, Mr Corbyn?

"Who's going to be the first terrorist invited to the House of Commons when you're prime minister?"

Mr Corbyn did not react to Mr Cameron, and was then ushered into the community centre by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.

Mr Cameron then accused Mr Corbyn of "running away".

The incident came hours after prime minister Boris Johnson was heckled during a visit to a flood-ravaged community in the north of England.

Mr Johnson was visiting Stainforth in South Yorkshire where he was repeatedly confronted by angry residents.

A spokeswoman for the Church of Scotland later rebuked Mr Cameron.

She said: "The Church of Scotland as an organisation has a long history of engaging with politicians through a number of different channels.

"Whilst we may occasionally robustly challenge policy issues with which we disagree, we always intend to do that in a way that is polite and measured and allows for reasoned debate."