Gay UKIP politician to stand for Parliament against Alex Salmond
UKIP’s only openly gay MEP has revealed that he plans to stand against former SNP leader Alex Salmond when he runs for Parliament.
David Coburn is UKIP’s most senior openly gay politician, and is currently also the party’s only MEP in Scotland.
He announced this week that he will try to become a Westminster MP in the seat of Gordon, Aberdeenshire, where former SNP Alex Salmond leader is mounting his charge.
Mr Salmond – who resigned as the leader of the SNP after losing the independence referendum – is tipped to land a very senior role in any potential SNP-Labour coalition government if he wins the seat.
UKIP have never previously fielded a candidate in Gordon, but Coburn told Scotland on Sunday that UKIP will channel funds into the area, to try and hinder Salmond’s campaign.
Mr Coburn said: “We’ll throw a lot of resources at it and target the seat he goes for and quite a few others. He’s the biggest beast, so we’re going to try to knock out this big beast.
“The man’s arrogance in assuming Scottish voters will put him where he wants means we have a very good chance of beating him.”
Despite being gay, the UKIP MEP is a fierce critic of the gay rights movement, claiming in October that same-sex marriage supporters are “equality Nazis”.
He ranted: “What you’re doing with the gay marriage issue is you’re rubbing people’s noses in the dirt.
“[It’s] the equality Nazis trying to give Christianity a jolly good kicking. You know it, I know it, we all know it – it’s false bollocks, the lot of it.
“It’s just for some queen who wants to dress up in a bridal frock and in a big moustache and dance up the aisle to the Village People.”
In September, Mr Coburn previously accused the SNP of being “fascist”, and controversially compared Alex Salmond to Robert Mugabe.
An SNP spokesperson referenced the comments, telling the newspaper: “UKIP have virtually disappeared in Scotland, amid a chaotic catalogue of mutual recrimination and expulsion, and candidates with extreme views.
“David Coburn fits exactly into that category, and he will get short shrift from the people of north-east Scotland.”
The Liberal Democrats previously had a majority of 6748 in the seat over the SNP – but it is tipped as an easy gain for the nationalists, due to the retirement of incumbent MP Malcom Bruce.
