Kezia Dugdale told by her father to ‘check facts’

The Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour party has been criticised over an attack on the SNP - by her own father.

Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Kezia Dugdale. Pic: John Devlin

Embarrassing parents can be a constant problem for their children, from being over-emotional in the playground to the terrible dancing at your wedding.

And it seems there’s no escaping it - even when you’re second-in-command of a major political party engaged in fighting one of the closest general election campaigns of recent times.

Edinburgh and Lothians MSP Kezia Dugdale found herself getting an unexpected telling off from her own father on social media site Twitter after she joined other figures in the Labour party in criticising First Minister Nicola Sturgeon over a report she had said she favoured David Cameron remaining as Prime Minister.

The report, published in The Daily Telegraph, claimed a leaked civil service note of a conversation between the First Minister and the French Ambassador suggested that Ms Sturgeon had said “she’d rather see David Cameron remain as PM.”

It was quickly denied by Ms Sturgeon, the French Ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann and the civil servant who provided the briefing upon which the memo was based. Whitehall’s most senior civil servant has now ordered an inquiry into the leak, and Ms Sturgeon complained of a “dirty tricks” campaign.

But despite this Kezia joined Labour Leader Ed Miliband in using the leak to suggest the SNP were planning a deal to keep the Conservatives in power, tweeting: “Everyone knew the Tories wanted the SNP to win but now we know the SNP want the Tories to win.”

Unfortunately her father Jeff Dugdale, who it was revealed earlier this year is a member of the SNP, quickly replied “Check facts before opening mouth Kezia!”

The tweets.

And followers were quick to point out that perhaps such a public forum was not the place for the rebuke, and suggested Mr Dugdale should have phoned his daughter instead.

It is not the first time the former Conservative voter has criticised his daughter’s party - and Ms Dugdale has previously admitted he can be embarrassing, although added: “I know my dad is very proud of what I do, even if he doesn’t agree with it often. After all, he used to be a Tory when he was a student.”