Ex-council chief Cammy Day's 'political smear' claims challenged by complainer
SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE: A constituent of Day complained about 'persistent sexual messaging' by the former council leader in 2023.
A man who complained about sexual harassment by former council leader Cammy Day has challenged the politician's claims of a conspiracy against him.
Day quit as head of Edinburgh's local authority in December and was suspended from Scottish Labour after the Sunday Mail revealed he had sent sexual messages to Ukrainian refugees.
The police were already investigating a complaint of inappropriate communication against him but announced earlier this month that 'no criminality has been established'.
The 50-year-old councillor said the whole affair had been a politically -motivated attempt to ruin his life, blaming the SNP in particular.
But one of Day's constituents, who complained to Scottish Labour two years before the latest revelations emerged, said he was 'disgusted' by his claims.
He said: 'It has been frustrating to read that he is claiming it is a political smear.
'I am not in elected politics, I try not to pay too much attention to politics for my own sanity if I'm honest. I've worked in financial services for 15 years and I happen to be his constituent.
'I complained to Scottish Labour in 2023, long before any of this was in the media.
'While the police have deemed his behaviour not to reach a criminal threshold, the issue I have is that it is completely inappropriate.
'I felt that at the time, and still do. That's why I complained.'
Day said there had been a coordinated attack against him, alleging 'things were leaked to the media, leaked to the Labour Party and reported to the police all at the same time… and I think it was an orchestrated political campaign against me'.
But the man, who does not want to be named, claimed Day had been 'relentless' in his messages to him through gay dating app Grindr years before any of the latest allegations were made public..
He added: 'He would send pictures to try to prompt a response and if I blocked him new accounts would spring up using the same pictures.
'At one point, he tried to add me on Instagram and I declined it. Last year when I went to vote, I saw him standing outside the polling station and it made me really uncomfortable.
'Whether it is in public or professional life, people who are in positions of power should not be behaving like that. The way he has tried to brush it under the carpet, his complete lack of any humility is what I find incredibly frustrating.'
The man hit out at the Labour Party's handling of his complaint.
He said: 'I told them what was going on, that I was a constituent. I told them I didn't want to go to the police, I didn't want to speak to the media but I wanted them to quietly deal with the issue.
'Then they tried to put me through a grotesque process to progress the complaint and nothing happened. When I saw the initial reports coming out last year, I knew I had previously complained but Anas Sarwar was saying he had no knowledge of any complaints. I do not feel like my complaint was handled properly the first time.'
Along with the 2023 complaint to Labour, two whistleblowing disclosures were made about Day at that time.
Former council chief executive Andrew Kerr received a complaint in December 2023 and another was made the following October.
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Edinburgh City Council has now launched an independent review of its handling of previous complaints, including what they claim is a 'potential' complaint against Day made in 2006 – before he was a councillor. The Ethical Standards Commission is also probing a complaint against Day.
The Sunday Mail asked Scottish Labour if it was willing to accept the man's offer to discuss his 2023 complaint and whether party leaders agreed with Day that he had been the victim of a political smear.
Labour said it was unable to comment while an investigation was ongoing, adding: 'The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously.
'They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate action is taken.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
22 minutes ago
- Daily Record
John Swinney shrugs off calls to quit as SNP leader after Hamilton by-election disaster
The First Minister strongly hinted he will carry out a Cabinet reshuffle in the coming weeks with less than a year to go before the next Holyrood election. John Swinney has insisted he's still the best man to lead the SNP after the party suffered a shock by-election defeat in Hamilton. The First Minister faced calls to quit from some veteran Nationalists after Davy Russell was elected in a result that stunned pundits, pollsters and bookies, who had nearly all predicted victory for the Nats. The by-election contest in South Lanarkshire has handed huge momentum to Scottish Labour with less than a year to go until the next Holyrood poll. Swinney today strongly hinted he will soon carry out a Cabinet reshuffle as he looks to put the Hamilton disaster behind him. Alex Neil, a former Scottish Government minister and SNP MSP, broke ranks in the hours after the result was declared on Friday morning to call for a change in the party's leadership. "Poor by election result for the SNP despite having the best candidate," he said. "It shows that the opinion polls appear wide of the mark. Most importantly it shows the current SNP leadership needs to be replaced urgently." Asked if he was still the man to lead the party, Swinney told BBC Scotland: "Yes. Twelve months ago, the party turned to me. I was not seeking high office, I'd held high office for a long time in my life, and the party turned to me, at a moment of real jeopardy, and asked me to use all of my skills and experience, and the loyalty I command in the party, to bring people together and focus us on the future. "Over the course of the last few months, we've seen real progress being made by the SNP in terms of our policy agenda. "We didn't win on Thursday, but we will again." Asked if he would carry out a reshuffle, the SNP leader added: "Obviously, I've got a Cabinet minister coming back from maternity leave, Mairi McAllan, so I'll have to look at the team, and I'll be doing that in due course." Swinney also vowed he would not 'do any sort of deal or co-operation' with Nigel Farage after losing the Hamilton by-election. Reform UK came from nowhere to finish a close third behind the Nats and Scottish Labour. Swinney said that if it was necessary to form a coalition to keep Reform out of government, he would 'pursue the policy priorities of my party', and pledged never to work with the Clacton MP. Swinney said: 'We've got to give people hope of what the future lies for Scotland, and that's as a country that can use our enormous energy wealth for the benefit of our people who are paying extraordinarily high fuel prices at the moment.' When asked if he would consider a coalition between the SNP, Labour and the Greens to keep Reform out of government, Mr Swinney said: 'We'll be going into that with the aim of winning that election. 'If you look at the result on Thursday, all the pollsters say that if that was applied across the wider electorate in Scotland, the SNP would remain by a country mile the largest political party in the Scottish Parliament. 'Now that's not good enough. I want to get stronger in that election, but I'll tell you one thing I will not do under any circumstances, is do any form of deal or co-operation with Farage. 'I just won't do it, and people need to understand that."
The National
37 minutes ago
- The National
Richard Tice in row with Laura Kuenssberg over Anas Sarwar comments
The deputy leader of Reform UK doubled down on his party's recent attack advert against Scottish Labour, which has been widely condemned as "racist", during the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. The political advert, which was seen by more than one million people on Facebook, falsely claimed that Sarwar would 'prioritise the Pakistani community'. READ MORE: Scottish Government urges Chancellor to drop 'damaging' cuts ahead of spending review The ad includes selected clips from a video spread by far and alt-right agitators on social media in a bid to claim that Europe was under threat from 'multiculturalism' and mass immigration, specifically of Muslims. While it has been branded "racist" by both the SNP and Scottish Labour, Farage doubled down and went on to tell a press conference in London that Sarwar had "introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics". During the programme on Sunday, Kuenssberg asked Tice about his party leader's comments, saying: "Your leader Nigel Farage claimed that the Muslim Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar had said that he would prioritise the Pakistani community. "He did not use those words. Was Nigel Farage's claim false?" Tice refused to be drawn on whether the claim was false, as he said: "No, look, what we would talk about was that actually, the Labour leader in Scotland was essentially sort of developing sectarian politics, and we called that out. "We had the Scottish by-election and we came within 750 people of winning it. "So the ridiculous claims made by the other main politicians in Scotland about us, frankly, the voters have just ignored, and we came within a whisker of an absolute shock, a seismic shock. Richard Tice "We got 26%, it was a three-way marginal, and I think Scottish politics is changing." Reform UK came third in Thursday's Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, with their candidate Ross Lambie winning 7088 votes. The party won 26.2% of the vote share but were 1471 votes away from beating Scottish Labour's Davy Russell, not 750 votes as Tice – who was at the count – claimed on Sunday. Tice went on: "We had a very simple slogan that seemed to work. 'Drill, Scotland, drill'. The oil and gas industry generates huge prosperity for Scotland, for the United Kingdom, and we should be embracing it and enhancing it, not shutting it down, which the Labour Government has essentially followed what the Tories did before with the ridiculous windfall tax." Kuenssberg returned to Farage's claims about the Scottish Labour leader, as she asked: "Do you not think it's important to say things that are true in politics? "Mr Farage claimed that Anas Sarwar had used words that he simply did not. He made a false claim on a sensitive issue. Was he wrong to do that?" Tice then doubled down on his party's claims about Sarwar bringing in sectarianism into Scottish politics. "No, look, it is sensitive, you're right," he said. "But was it right for Mr Sarwar to claim that Pakistanis and the South Asian community should, for example, dominate and dictate the Scottish educational agenda?" READ MORE: The Supreme Court's sex ruling faces legal challenges – will they succeed? Kuenssberg interrupted: "My question to you is whether or not it was right for Mr Farage to make a false claim about words Anas Sarwar did not use?" Tice said: "Well, you can interpret. I think in the overall context it was not a false claim. "It was what Mr Sarwar was doing, which was bringing sectarian politics into Scottish politics. And that is wrong, that's not how we do things." First Minister John Swinney said at the time that Farage had "brought racism and hatred" into the by-election campaign, as the SNP submitted a formal complaint to Meta, Facebook's parent company. Meanwhile, Sarwar branded Farage a "poisonous man who doesn't understand Scotland". Scottish Labour have been contacted for comment.
Glasgow Times
41 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Swinney promises no ‘deal or co-operation' with Farage after by-election defeat
Scottish Labour took the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse seat in South Lanarkshire from the SNP but Mr Farage's Reform UK party also made gains in the Scottish Parliament ballot on Thursday. Speaking on the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News, SNP leader Mr Swinney said that if it was necessary to form a coalition to keep Reform out of government, he would 'pursue the policy priorities of my party', and pledged never to work with Clacton MP Mr Farage. The First Minister said he intended to win the 2026 Holyrood election, adding his party would 'get stronger' after losing the Hamilton seat, which it had taken in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election with 46% of all ballots cast, compared with its vote share of 29.35% in Thursday's by-election. Newly elected Scottish Labour MSP Davy Russell won with 8,559 votes while SNP candidate Katy Loudon took 7,957 votes. Reform's Ross Lambie secured 7,088 votes. Mr Swinney said: 'We've got to give people hope of what the future lies for Scotland, and that's as a country that can use our enormous energy wealth for the benefit of our people who are paying extraordinarily high fuel prices at the moment.' Demonstrators outside the Reform UK office in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire during a visit by party leader Nigel Farage (Jane Barlow/PA) When asked if he would consider a coalition between the SNP, Labour and the Greens to keep Reform out of government, Mr Swinney said: 'We'll be going into that with the aim of winning that election. 'If you look at the result on Thursday, all the pollsters say that if that was applied across the wider electorate in Scotland, the SNP would remain by a country mile the largest political party in the Scottish Parliament. 'Now that's not good enough. I want to get stronger in that election, but I'll tell you one thing I will not do under any circumstances, is do any form of deal or co-operation with Farage. 'I just won't do it, and people need to understand that.'
