A vicar who yelled “terrorist sympathiser” at Jeremy Corbyn and is allegedly behind a string of racist and homophobic tweets has been suspended from the Church of Scotland.
Rev Richard Cameron loudly heckled the Labour leader while he visited Glasgow on the election campaign trail earlier this week.
A clip of the incident went viral, but allegations have since emerged that Cameron had previously posted several Islamophobic and homophobic tweets, including one that appeared to call LGBT rights “a tragedy”.
The Church of Scotland said Cameron has now been suspended pending an “enquiry” into his altercation with Corbyn and his social media use.
A Church of Scotland spokesperson said: “In accordance with our procedures Rev Richard Cameron has been administratively suspended.
“This is to allow us to carry out an enquiry in relation to the incident which took place earlier this week and the subsequent complaints about his social media use.”
Cameron’s alleged social media posts, which included messages supportive of the Brexit Party and Tories, were uncovered after he confronted Corbyn in Glasgow.
During the Labour leader’s visit, Cameron picked out Corbyn’s tartan scarf and said: “I thought you’d be wearing your Islamic jihad scarf. Are you not invited to the funeral?”
He then continued to shout at Corbyn, accusing him of “running away”, as the Labour leader turned his back to leave the area.
“Do you think the man that’s going to be prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser, Mr Corbyn?” he could be heard to say.
“Who’s going to be the first terrorist invited to the House of Commons when you’re prime minister? Aye, he’s running away.”
A string of posts was later highlighted on Twitter by Labour campaigner Owen Jones.
Corbyn has previously faced criticisms that he met with Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams in the 1990s. Labour has always said the meetings took place in order to bring about talks, which later led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
Corbyn, who supports rights for Palestinian people, was also accused of being at a wreath-laying service in 2014 where, it was claimed, individuals behind the group that carried out the Munich Olympic massacre were honoured.
The Labour leader said the event in Tunisia was aimed at remembering victims of the 1985 Israeli airstrike in Tunis.
He was asked at the time if Palestinian leaders linked to the Black September terror group were also honoured.
Labour claimed that Corbyn was honouring “others killed by Mossad agents in Paris”. In response to a question at the time, Corbyn said he was “present” at a wreath-laying in Tunis, adding: “I don’t think I was actually involved in it.”
Labour rejects any claim that Corbyn is sympathetic to any terrorist campaign and state that he has consistently campaigned for peace throughout his 36 years as MP for Islington North.