THE ultra-Unionist Orange Order has marched to the defence of a senior SNP politician who accepted its hospitality.

The new edition of the Order’s official journal, the Orange Torch, salutes the actions of David Stocks, leader of the SNP opposition on North Lanarkshire Council.

The Sunday Herald revealed in August how Stocks had dined out at the Order’s annual awards ceremony, known as the Orange Oscars, despite the outfit’s fierce opposition to the SNP.

The event saw Glasgow named Lodge of the Year 2015 for organising Orangefest, a gathering of 20,000 people which left the city's SNP councillors “deeply concerned”.

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Despite the Order’s well-known opposition to the SNP’s cause, Stocks, a councillor in Airdrie Central, said he enjoyed attending the Oscars and other religious events “being a Christian”.

The Order, which calls itself a “Protestant Christian fraternity” but is seen by some as sectarian and anti-Catholic, was a registered No campaigner in the 2014 independence referendum.

The Torch calls Nicola Sturgeon “Soory McSoorface”, Alex Salmond a “pathetic washed-up loser”, and SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson a “pompous windbag”.

It has also dubbed SNP members “Neanderthals” and “separatist stormtroopers”, and described the party as “a pseudo-religious sect” led by “self-serving unprincipled chancers”.

Reacting to people questioning Stocks’s political judgment, the latest Torch praises the SNP boss, saying he and two Labour councillors in North Lanarkshire who went to Order dinners “simply regard themselves as representing all their electors, even those who fundamentally disagree with their politics. That’s certainly how Cllr Stocks sees it.”

Under the headline “Local Councillor Attends Lodge Dinner Shocker”, it goes on: “We regret any embarrassment caused to these Councillors (or to the many other Councillors, MSPs, MPs and Government Ministers who have had the audacity to associate with us over the years). But we’re delighted to welcome several new Torch subscribers that the free publicity has attracted.”

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An SNP source said: “It’s a pretty poor state of affairs when you have the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland coming to the defence of a prominent Nationalist in North Lanarkshire. This raises more questions than answers.”

Stocks maintained he was right to attend the Orange Oscars.

He said: “I don’t have any links to the Orange Order. I’ve never been a member. I don’t know anything about the Orange Torch. They’re part of the community. I would be failing in my duties, even as SNP group leader, if I didn’t attend their functions now and again.”