Nick Griffin's 'racist' black men in kilts anti-SNP advert has opposite of desired effect on Scottish followers

The former BNP leader's attempt to derail Nicola Sturgeon didn't go to plan

Nick Griffin used to be a member of the British National Party, before he was expelled in October accused of “harassing” members and attempting to destabilise the organisation.

Now, he posts Twitter updates like this anti-Scottish National Party advert, in a vain attempt to persuade followers not to vote for the party’s leader Nicola Sturgeon in the General Election in May and ignite a reaction ahead of her inclusion in the seven-way leaders’ debate that evening:

The trouble is, it didn’t have quite the desired effect.

Most of those who did react were encourage – not dissuaded – by the kilted men adorning the bar in the photograph. Rather, they felt it idealised the SNP’s policies on immigration:

Of course, it did little harm to Sturgeon’s performance on the evening. Before the leaders’ debate, a panel of voters could not identify Nicola Sturgeon from her picture. On Friday morning, her name was the most googled term in the whole of the UK.

One poll crowned her the clear winner of the debate with 28 per cent of the vote. Google data showed that the sixth most searched question was “can I vote for the SNP?” , while the Guardian reported, and if you put “Nicola Sturgeon” into a Twitter search bar, the words “Prime Minister” will automatically predict.

Unsurprisingly, there was only one leader on the night Griffin appeared to be rooting for: