A SENIOR SNP politician was accused of “gutter politics” for posting an attack on the school of the teacher standing for Labour in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.

MSP Clare Haughey faced a wave of criticism for amplifying a blog which flagged up pupils’ exam results and questioned the “underperforming Modern Studies Department” where Michael Shanks teaches.

Ms Haughey – the boss of SNP candidate and councillor Katy Loudon, who works in her MSP office – re-posted the attack and drew attention to it with an eyes emoji.

But she was immediately savaged on Twitter for the post – at 10.02pm last night – by a stream of users including several teachers.

One staff member from another school responded saying: “I am appalled that an MSP would post an attack on a school and its pupils like this. Please remove your retweet. The inaccuracies are the least of the issues with the post.”

Ms Haughey, 56, who represents Rutherglen at Holyrood, is the former children’s minister and mental health minister who now convenes Holyrood’s health and sport committee.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Transport Matters