Tory MP Lisa Cameron reveals death threats after defecting from SNP

Cameron said she was forced to go into hiding after leaving the SNP

Lisa Cameron says she was threatened to be burned alive after defecting from the SNP, and says her former party “deserves” to lose in the general election.

Ms Cameron says she was forced to go into hiding in a safe house with her family after leaving the nationalists, and now has panic alarms in her home for her safety.

She said the “bile and vile threats” she has received since joining the Scottish Conservatives is “beyond my wildest imagination”.

Dr Lisa Cameron MP and party leader Douglas Ross at the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Aberdeen. Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

Ms Cameron made the comments during a speech to the Scottish Conservative Party conference, which was held over the weekend in Aberdeen.

It is the first time she has attended a conference since becoming a Conservative Party member, and said she has been welcomed in with open arms.

She said: “The [SNP] and its supporters have tried to make my life a living hell ever since I left.

“I have had death threats, I had one person say that they wanted to brick me on the street, and another that they wanted to burn me alive.

“I now have four panic alarms fitted in my home.”

She said in the week after she left the MP she told her daughters they were going on holiday - but they were actually going into a safe house because of the death threats,

Ms Cameron added: “I knew upon leaving the SNP that I would become a target for the very worst of nationalism, but the bile and vile threats I have received were beyond my wildest imagination.

“Rather than engaging in the substance of issues, nationalist trolls resort to bullying.

“Let me say to my former party - political arguments should never be made through intimidation and threats of violence.”

Ms Cameron added: “The SNP deserve to lose, and they deserve to lose big.”

Speaking after her speech, party leader Douglas Ross praised Ms Cameron for her “extremely powerful” words.

He told journalists: “I thought Lisa Cameron’s speech was extremely powerful.

“The way she has been open and honest about the horrendous difficulties she and her family have faced shows the toxic nature of the SNP she left.

“I am extremely proud she feels so comfortable here and made to feel welcome by the wider party.”

In response the SNP said: “There is absolutely no place in politics for intimidation or threats, and we continue to wish Lisa well on a personal basis.

"The people of East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow elected an SNP MP, not a Tory – and we believe Lisa Cameron should have stepped down to allow a by-election and let her constituents have the democratic opportunity to elect a hard-working SNP MP who would put their interests first.”