Gibson and Mackay lock horns in a war of words
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FAR North MSP Rob Gibson has been involved in a war of words with a former parliamentary candidate this week – 140 characters at a time.
The row between the SNP member and former Labour candidate John Mackay emerged on micro-blogging site Twitter on Wednesday.
The squabble was sparked when Mr Mackay retweeted news of the possible loss of jobs at the Vulcan submarine nuclear reactor test site and prefaced it by calling the MSP an insulting name.
Mr Gibson responded with his own tweet calling it a “pretty immature response”.
Mr Mackay stood as a candidate in last year’s Westminster election and then again in the Scottish elections but lost to Mr Gibson in the race for the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross Holyrood seat.
Following Mr Gibson’s response, the Labour man came straight back with a dig at the MSP’s hustings performance at Alness.
Mr Gibson responded with: “The one where you criticised the FM [First Minister] for visiting Nigg, a visit that helped secure over 1000 jobs for E Ross? Come on, John.”
Mr Mackay had another go at the Nationalists, slating First Minister Alex Salmond for arriving in a helicopter for a talk about renewables.
Via his iPhone, Mr Gibson warned the Labour Party member not to joke about job prospects in Caithness, adding: “Don’t worry, you’ll learn.”
The final tweet came from Mr Mackay who claimed he was not joking about jobs but rather making light of the alleged irony of Mr Salmond using a helicopter to promote employment in the renewables sector.
Mr Gibson’s parliamentary researcher, Alex MacLeod, was also keeping an eye on the row and tweeted @john_mackay: “Rob actually sharing in the sorrow felt locally because of the closure. What else would you expect from a constituency MSP?”
Mr Mackay made it clear on his profile page his tweets should not be taken seriously and yesterday he told the John O’Groat Journal it was just a “bit of banter. I don’t think there was anything really newsworthy in it – it was just two people having a conversation,” said Mr Mackay.
“That’s exactly what Twitter is there for – so people can have these conversations.
“Otherwise, I would have no point of contact with people like Rob Gibson.
“I’ve got around 600 followers and it allows those people to see what my views are on these issues and a whole range of other things.”
An SNP spokesman said: “This Twitter exchange highlights the immaturity of Mr Mackay and we don’t think it was appropriate to joke in this way in what is a major blow to the Far North economy.
“We hope Mr Mackay and the Labour Party adopt a more mature and considerate tone in the future when discussing job losses. That is what the people of Caithness expect.”
