Kerr branded 'dangerously elitist'

Published on Monday 20 July 2009 22:03

DAVID Kerr, the SNP's candidate for the Glasgow North-east by-election, has been described as "dangerously elitist" by the former principal of a Glasgow university.

The comments follow the emergence of a recording where Mr Kerr said that Glasgow Caledonian University did "not have a reputation to tarnish".

His comments were delivered in a talk to students at his alma mater, St Andrews University, in 2007. Dr Ian Johnston, who retired as Glasgow Caledonian's principal in 2005, said: "At Glasgow Caledonian, the majority of the mainly vocational courses are externally professionally accredited, and so offer a good route to employment.

"These are exactly the kind of courses that provide opportunities for students from Glasgow North-east to break through to professional jobs.

"As to reputation, the university is in the top ten in the UK for research in health-related subjects, and is the World Health Organisation's sole nursing education secretariat."

Mr Kerr has said the comments were only meant to be light-hearted and that he supports the work of the university.

In a tough week for the former BBC journalist, who is his party's fourth-choice candidate for the seat, Mr Kerr has written an open letter to Labour and Conservative leaders to stop using religion as an issue, after questions were raised over his membership of the Catholic organisation Opus Dei.