14:34

The former head of Ukip in Scotland has been blocked in his bid to join the Scottish Conservatives.

David Coburn, a former Ukip MEP, told the BBC on Saturday that he had joined the Tories in order to help the prime minister “save the Union” in the event of a second independence referendum.

However Jackson Carlaw, the leader of the Scots Tories, appears to have effectively rejected his application in a tweet posted on Sunday .



He said:

I understand David Coburn has applied to join the Scottish Conservatives. As leader I have to make it clear that past public comments by him are incompatible with membership and I cannot and will not support his application.

Coburn, a former MEP, has previously been forced to apologise after making an Islamophobic slur against SNP minister Humza Yousaf, comparing him to convicted terrorist Abu Hamza.

He was also banned from Wikipedia indefinitely after trying to alter an article about himself 69 times in the space of six days.