By GEORGIA EDKINS, SCOTTISH ASSOCIATE EDITOR FOR DAILY MAIL AND THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
Major concerns have been raised about the SNP’s vetting procedures after The Mail unearthed an online ‘swingers’ profile linked to a Holyrood hopeful.
Founder of campaign group English Scots for YES, Math Campbell-Sturgess, 42, sensationally withdrew his candidacy for the 2026 Holyrood election on Saturday after this newspaper put our findings to him.
Our probe discovered an account on the website Fabswingers.com looking for ‘threesome’ partners for a man and a woman who go by the pseudonym ‘Scotsbicouple’.
The profile on the website, used to organise sex meetups, displays highly explicit images showing a woman posing in her underwear and performing a sex act.
There are no pictures of the man, who goes by the name of M (42), and the profile explains images are limited due to ‘work sensitivities’.
Nicola Sturgeon-ally and Nationalist rising star Mr Campbell-Sturgess was selected as the SNP MSP candidate to contest Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie’s Dumbarton seat earlier this year.
When confronted by The Mail about the online account on Thursday, he denied it was his profile and then suggested it might have been an impersonator account.
Nicola Sturgeon ally Mr Campbell-Sturgess was running as the SNP’s candidate for Dumbarton
Mr Campbell-Sturgess, who remains a councillor, founded group English Scots for YES
But after being presented with more evidence linking him to it, on Saturday he said that ‘everyone is entitled to a private life’ and insisted he had ‘done nothing wrong’.
He said: ‘This experience has placed huge stress on myself and my family, and I have therefore chosen to step back from candidacy at this time.’
Mr Campbell-Sturgess and the SNP would not respond to questions over whether he would remain as an SNP councillor.
The revelations sparked serious concerns about the Nationalists’ candidate vetting procedures.
Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Rachael Hamilton MSP, said: ‘While no laws appear to have been broken, this episode raises serious concerns about the SNP’s judgement and vetting procedures.
‘The public rightly expect their elected representatives to behave in a way that upholds the dignity of public office — and many will be deeply shocked by these revelations.
Fabswingers.com is a website that allows people to reach out to like-minded individuals
The politician said ‘everyone is entitled to a private life’ and said he had ‘done nothing wrong’
‘The SNP must urgently explain how this was allowed to happen.’
It is the latest sex and relationship scandal to plague the Nationalists, after furores over former finance minister Derek Mackay, former Glasgow North MP Patrick Grady and Jordan Linden, a former SNP North Lanarkshire council leader.
Now, the SNP is at the centre of fresh questions over its vetting processes.
The account Scotsbicouple on website Fabswingers.com has been in use for a number of years and had been accessed as recently as Wednesday.
The profile lists the users’ interests as adult parties, group sex, making videos, role play, swingers clubs, taking photos, threesomes and voyeurism.
The Mail has chosen not to print some of the more obscene activities for reasons of taste and decency.
A previous SNP sex and relationship scandal was over former Finance Minister Derek Mackay
Former Glasgow North MP Patrick Grady was also embroiled in controversy
The profile reads: ‘We’ve had a few meets and parties now, have some experience under our belt.’
It goes on to praise the woman’s capabilities in the bedroom.
It later states: ‘We’re not really able to accom [sic] but can travel with notice.’
The profile says that ‘M’ uses the Scotsbicouple account and the woman tends to use her own, called PictiiWitch. However, it states: ‘We won’t usually meet serpately [sic] until we get to know you.’
The pair have received good reviews from other swingers, with one fan writing: ‘What a meet, would love to see what we could all do in warm surroundings.’
Last week, one admirer – who claimed to have met them ‘years ago’, said: ‘Massive b***s, but there’s much more to these two…! Hopefully we will meet again soon!’
England-born Mr Campbell-Sturgess is a huge proponent of Scottish independence
On Thursday, our reporter approached Mr Campbell-Sturgess in Helensburgh, to check the validity of the account.
Asked: ‘Is this your profile?’ he said: ‘No’. Asked again if he ‘firmly denied’ it was his profile, he responded: ‘It’s not my profile.’
But, just hours later, both the Scotsbicouple and PictiiWitch profiles had been deleted.
Presented with this fact, Mr Campbell-Sturgess then admitted the account was the woman’s and that she had deleted it after our visit.
He said explicit images did not portray him.
The Mail notified the councillor of its intention to run an article on Saturday morning, to which Mr Campbell-Sturgess said: ‘As your readers will appreciate, everyone is entitled to a private life. I have done nothing wrong and reject any suggestion otherwise.
‘However, this experience has placed huge stress on myself and my family, and I have therefore chosen to step back from candidacy at this time.’
He would not say whether he intended to stay on as an SNP councillor.
Born in England, Mr Campbell-Sturgess describes himself as a ‘42-year-old jewellery designer, parliamentary assistant, and formerly a graphic designer’.
He had been tipped as a rising star among the Nationalist ranks, and, as founder of the English Scots for YES campaign group, has regularly been pictured with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Having served as an SNP councillor in Greenock from 2012 to 2017, he moved to become a Nationalist councillor for Helensburgh & Lomond South from 2022. He stood against Brendan O’Hara in 2023 for a seat at Westminster.
His website claims he is the SNP-run Argyll and Bute council’s policy lead for Business Development.
In his spare time, Mr Campbell-Sturgess makes jewellery and leather goods, specialising in ‘celtic and norse themed silver and gold rings, pendants & broaches, and leather belts, bracelets and similar’.
A spokesman for the SNP said: ‘We have been informed of his decision to step down as a candidate.’
