New Moray Council depute leader Donald Gatt says SNP are 'spreading lies' over cult tweet claims, as Gatt's six previous SNP cult tweets uncovered
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NEW Moray Council deputy leader Councillor Donald Gatt has said that claims he called the SNP a cult on Twitter are "untruths".
However, it has come to light that he has directly referred to the SNP as a cult six times in past tweets.
At the first full meeting of Moray Council since the end of the summer recess, on Wednesday (August 10), Conservative Councillor Donald Gatt was named as the new deputy leader of Moray Council.
SNP members, however, raised concerns about Cllr Gatt's appointment on the basis of past controversial tweets.
SNP group co-leader Councillor Graham Leadbitter said: "We are not going to interfere with the administration group's leadership arrangements, that is a matter for them.
"But I will simply say that I hope Cllr Gatt's elevation to the position will also encourage him to elevate his level of political debate and focus on the issues.
"To illustrate my point, myself and Councillor Morrison had what we hoped would be a constructive meeting with the Conservative group leadership last week.
"So we were incredibly disappointed that, despite concilliatory words in that meeting, Cllr Gatt that evening tweeted again that the SNP was a cult.
"Notwithstanding that, resorting to this type of discourse is pretty revealing about having no policy argument. It is also extremely offensive to all eight of the councillors here and all SNP members in Moray."
Councillor Jérémie Fernandes also criticised Cllr Gatt's appointment, on the basis of a 2017 tweet where Cllr Gatt said: "If you can't afford children, buy Durex".
Both Cllr Fernandes and Cllr Leadbitter said they interpreted Cllr Gatt's tweet as him saying that poor people shouldn't have children.
Cllr Gatt strongly denied the SNP councillors' version of events.
He said: "What I would like is to hear an opinion from the legal officer on two untruths that have been said this morning.
"There was a comment made by Cllr Leadbitter that Cllr Gatt, myself, had said that the SNP is a cult.
"Well that tweet is still up there, on Twitter, and the SNP was not mentioned by me at all.
"So what was said by Cllr Leadbitter is completely untrue.
"There was an inference in my statement on Twitter, that is obvious when you see the story I was referring to."
In the tweet, posted at 10:29pm on August 1, Cllr Gatt wrote: "The cult will be raging!" above a link to an article from STV News.
The article was headlined: "Liz Truss has said that the 'best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her' and branded the First Minister an 'attention seeker'."
Cllr Gatt has also tweeted six times in the past directly referring to the SNP as a cult.
In a tweet from December 29, 2020, at 10:42am, Cllr Gatt wrote: "The #snpcult are desperately trying to explain their hypocritical stance on the #UK deal with the EU and defend #NoDealNicola but basically the Nats are talking mince."
In a tweet from March 3 2021, at 10:53pm, Cllr Gatt wrote: "Judging by the similarity of SNP tweets this evening there has obviously been a mass email sent out from their cult HQ. #SNPcorruption
In a tweet from December 29 2020, at 1pm, Cllr Gatt wrote: "The #snpcult won't like this."
In a tweet from May 30, 2021, at 4:08am, Cllr Gatt wrote: "Yes it is pretty cool and as an added bonus the #SNPcult are moaning as well."
In a 2017 tweet, posted at 7:02pm on January 6, Cllr Gatt wrote: "Parti Quebecois are just as bad as the #SNPCult"
Tweeting at a now-deactivated account on May 4 2015, at 2:18pm, Cllr Gatt wrote: "you need to see the SNP for what they are a centralist controlling dangerous anglophobic cult."
At the meeting, Councillor Jérémie Fernandes said: "I would just want to raise concerns about Cllr Gatt's appointment as deputy leader.
"In 2017, he made national headlines by saying that poor people shouldn't have children.
"He said: 'If you can't afford children, buy Durex.'
"Which is quite an insult to the 4000 families living in poverty in Moray.
"However, I do believe in continuous learning and clean slates and I really hope he has reflected on that statement, particularly given that many families have been plunged into poverty in the last couple of years."
Cllr Gatt said: "The previous speaker has made an untruth, going back a number of years.
"I have often had, in the press, the quote attributed to me that: 'Poor people shouldn't have children.'
"I said no such thing.
"Again, the original comment is still online for those who wish to look at it."
The original tweet reads: "My choice not to have children. Why do I have to pay for meals for those who chose to have them?
"If you can't afford children, buy Durex."
In another tweet, posted the day after his "Durex" tweet, in a discussion about the Scottish Government's baby box scheme, he also wrote: "if someone can't afford kids then sensible decision is don't have them."
After the meeting, Cllr Fernandes tweeted his outrage over Cllr Gatt's infamous contraception tweet.
In the tweet, posted at 7:32am yesterday (August 11), Cllr Fernandes wrote: "These are the views of the new Conservative deputy leader of the Moray Council.
"During a cost-of-living crisis, the Tories thought it was a good appointment.
"It's a slap in the face of the 4000 families living in poverty in Moray."
In a later tweet, Cllr Fernandes confirmed that he was not calling for Cllr Gatt's resignation and that Cllr Gatt had asked him to apologise.
He wrote: "For clarification, it's an old tweet and I believe people should be able to reflect and change their mind.
"But I raised the issue in the Council chamber and was asked to apologise."
Cllr Gatt, during his request for an apology, said: "It would be polite to show some degree of humility and an acknowledgement of the truth of the matter if the two individuals who have made these quotations today were to politely retract them.
"Because if these quotes continue to be made, I will take a very dim view of people who – let's not beat about the bush – are spreading lies.
"And I am not having it.
"So the legal officer might like to come in here and remind councillors about the Councillors Code of Conduct, especially around respect for other councillors."
Cllr Leadbitter rejected Cllr Gatt's call for an apology.
He said: "I am sure it will not be that surprising to him that there is no apology coming.
"I think his tweet can be reasonably summed up as saying that the poor shouldn't have children.
"Last week, he made further reference to the SNP using the word cult, which as I have said before is fairly offensive.
"He has already confirmed, in his own comments today, that he was inferring that due to the link he attached to the tweet."
Cllr Gatt was contacted to provide a comment on his Twitter history for this article, but did not respond.
After being contacted on August 12, ahead of publication, Cllr's Gatt's Twitter account, handle @DonaldGatt, was changed from publicly visible to "protected", and is now visible only to "approved followers".
Following Cllr Leadbitter's initial statement, Conservative Council leader Councillor Kathleen Robertson said: "I think it is probably, at this point, a very timely reminder to encourage all members of the Council to be mindful about their use of social media – or should I say anti-social media – as is sometimes the case."
