This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A Scottish Labour MP has been forced to resign as his party's social media tsar after posting a spoof video online which compared Alex Salmond to Adolf Hitler.

Tom Harris, who stood for election as Scottish party leader last year, apologised and said his "actions were an unhelpful distraction" which damaged his party's attempts to make better use of social media.

The Scottish National party (SNP) was jubilant. "It is silly, negative nonsense like this that helps explain why Labour are in the doldrums in Scotland," a party spokesman said.

Harris, the MP for Glasgow South and one of Labour's most experienced bloggers and social media experts, posted a satirical video based on the German film Downfall, released in 2004, which depicts Hitler's last days in his bunker in Berlin.

The English subtitles are replaced with Harris's own text, which describes a future when Salmond has a "coronation" in Edinburgh after he wins the independence referendum.

Titled Joan's Downfall, it was provoked by a major row last week over remarks by the SNP MSP Joan McAlpine, one of Salmond's closest advisers, after she claimed that politicians who criticised the SNP's policies were "anti-Scottish". Opponents, in turn, accused her of "political racism".

The stage for the row was a debate in the Scottlish Parliament on Thursday 12 January, when Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson criticised a recent comment by one of Salmond's closest advisers, SNP MSP Joan McAlpine, who had said in a tweet some days earlier: "interfering in referendum is anti-Scottish, as is refusal to compromise on popular desire 4 powers to Scotland".

McAlpine insisted her remarks were an attack on the policies of the pro-UK parties, not their leaders as individuals. She told the parliament: "I make absolutely no apology for saying that the Liberals, the Labour Party and the Tories are anti-Scottish in coming together to defy the will of the Scottish people and the democratic mandate that they gave us to hold a referendum at a time of our choosing."

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish government's deputy first minister, was forced to distance herself from McAlpine's comments after she was challenged by Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, on the BBC's Question Time programme on Thursday evening, soon after the exchanges in the Scottish Parliament.

The Downfall video has frequently been used to mock famous political figures, including former prime minister Gordon Brown.

In his spoof, Harris likens McAlpine's remarks to "tartan jingoism".

In a statement on Monday morning, Harris said: "Having spoken to Johann [Lamont, leader of the Scottish Labour party], I have decided to step down from leading the party's social media review.

"The video I posted has been a well worn joke used to parody a range of public figures.

"However, context is everything and in the context of Johann's and my desire to improve the level of political debate on social media and the context of Joan McAlpine's much more serious statements about all political opponents of the SNP being anti-Scottish, my actions have been an unhelpful distraction for which I apologise."

The SNP spokesman added: "It is hugely embarrassing for Labour that one of their MPs and a leadership contender – who should have better things to do with his time – is promoting tasteless stuff like this through his official MP website."

Labour insisted there was a strong contrast between Harris's decision to step down and the SNP's refusal to discipline McAlpine, who remains Salmond's parliamentary aide.

"Attention is now focusing again on the SNP's refusal to take any action against their official ministerial aide Joan McAlpine for outrageously questioning people's Scottishness and patriotism if, like most people, they don't support separation," a spokesman said.

• This article was amended on 17 January 2012 to add context and direct quotes to a line in the original, which said in part that Joan McAlpine had "claimed that politicians who criticised the SNP's policies on the independence referendum were being 'anti-Scottish'."