I’ve always tried to be fair about Scottish politics. Although I didn’t support Scottish independence, I repeatedly condemned a ‘Better Together’ campaign based on fear. I saw the movement for independence as one fundamentally driven by a sense of social justice, not blood-and-soil nationalism. Much of my own family, after all — most of whom live in Scotland — voted for independence.

Although I’m a Labour supporter, I was repeatedly damning about the colossal failures of Scottish Labour — both historically, and in more recently allying with the Tories in a campaign of fear — which led to the collapse of the party north of the Border.

And when it comes to the SNP, I’ve interviewed the likes of Mhairi Black and Angus Robertson, giving them a platform to make their own case.

This week, I went to visit my parents in Edinburgh. I combined my visit with an evening of campaigning in Edinburgh North and Leith for Gordon Munro, a Corbyn-supporting member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Campaign for Socialism.

What ensued was probably one of the biggest Twitter storms I’ve ever experienced.

[EDIT: It’s worth emphasising that these comments are a loud but completely unrepresentative minority of SNP supporters] I’m a Red Tory, I’m a supporter of everything from PFI to tuition fees, I’m in league with opponents of Jeremy Corbyn (somewhat surreal given Munro is a supporter of Corbyn), I’ve probably never foot in Scotland: others hurled straightforward abuse. Hundreds circulated a photograph of me posing with the Tory leader Ruth Davidson at a LGBT event a few years ago (we’d just had a brief political debate, as it happened, and I once condemned Davidson from the stage at the Stonewall Awards after she excoriated the organisation for having a ‘Bigot of the Year’ award). This is offered as evidence that I am indeed a Conservative.

The tweet that triggered the Twitter storm was as below:

What particularly riled my antagonists was Munro’s reference to “SNP and Tory austerity”. This is an argument made repeatedly by Jeremy Corbyn himself. “Scots have a choice in this election,” said Corbyn in May. “A Labour government which will govern for the many not the few, or the continuation of Tory and SNP austerity.”

The reason Corbyn’s Labour make this argument is that the SNP refuse to use their tax-raising powers to reverse Tory cuts: their argument that it would cause the rich to flee is the standard right-wing objection to progressive taxation. Furthermore, they enforced a council tax freeze for many years that caused cuts to services in Scotland.

The SNP would be more reliable allies of Corbyn, I’m repeatedly told. Odd, again, given Munro — who I was campaigning for — is a Corbyn supporter. Odd, too, given Nicola Sturgeon’s own publicly expressed view is that Corbyn’s Labour is “pitifully ineffective.” Odd, also, given the SNP wishes Scotland to leave a country potentially led by Corbyn.

In the coming months, I’ll be campaigning in Tory-held seats in England: Labour can take constituencies held by the likes of Iain Duncan-Smith and Boris Johnson. But I’m glad to have combined a visit to my parents with a campaign in a nearby marginal. That’s because I want Labour to win with left-wing candidates in Scotland, England and Wales so that we can have a left-wing Labour government — maybe even by the end of the year.

On a personal note, both my father and grandfather depend on Scotland’s NHS. I want a Scotland free of the devastating cuts of the last few years — and only a Labour government can deliver that.

Finally: a word on political culture and debate. The fury unleashed on my timeline by my campaigning as a left-wing Labour supporter for a left-wing Labour candidate is utterly astonishing. It is disturbing, as well. It is not healthy. If the aim was to intimidate or deter (because there was certainly little attempt to persuade), then I’m afraid it will have the opposite consequence.