Kezia Dugdale, deputy leader of Scottish Labour Party, pulled up on Twitter by own father over Nicola Sturgeon memo claims

Father and daughter disagree on Telegraph claims over SNP leader Sturgeon

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy with his deputy Kezia Dugdale (Getty)

The deputy leader of the Labour Party in Scotland was publicly told off by her father on Twitter over a disagreement about the First Minister.

Kezia Dugdale had posted a link to an article by The Telegraph that claimed SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was secretly backing the Conservative Party to be re-elected in the general election.

She wrote on Thursday: “Everyone knew the Tories wanted the SNP to win, but now we know the SNP want the Tories to win.”

Ms Sturgeon has said that the claims made by The Telegraph are “categorically, 100% not true” and a “dirty political trick” after the right-wing paper claimed to have obtained a leaked memo.

The father of Ms Dugdale – a retired teacher and journalist called Jeff Dugdale – sniped at his daughter yesterday: “Check facts before opening mouth, Kezia!”

His response prompted hundreds of Twitter users to either criticise him for “humiliating” his daughter or to praise the SNP-supporter for being “human” enough to openly stand up to her over using a widely-disputed report by The Telegraph.

However, she was not alone in doing so, as her post was published minutes after her superior Jim Murphy, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, had made the same claim on Twitter.

The leaked document in question, purporting to be an account of a February meeting in Edinburgh between Ms Sturgeon and French ambassador Sylvie Bermann threatens to dominate the remaining month of campaigning north of the border.

Ms Bermann’s office said the SNP leader had not said who she preferred as prime minister.

Last night the head of the UK civil service, Sir Jeremy Heywood, agreed to Ms Sturgeon’s demand that an inquiry be launched into the circumstances of the alleged leak.

Ms Dugdale – who is also MSP for Edinburgh & Lothians – has not replied to Mr Dugdale after his social media post, however she has confirmed that he is her father and that is his real account.