Spoof video downfall for MP

Bruno Ganz plays Adolf Hitler in the film Downfall. Photo / Supplied

A Labour social media adviser has resigned from his position after making a Downfall spoof video ridiculing Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.

Labour MP Tom Harris, who was a contender in the recent election of a new party leader in Scotland, quit his post as social media tsar after acknowledging that his actions were "an unhelpful distraction".

Harris is well known in politics because of the blog that he maintained for several years full of outspoken and often witty comments about opponents.

His YouTube video used images of an actor playing Adolf Hitler, though the same clip from the same film has been used in hundreds of spoofs in recent years.

The original film was a study of Hitler's last days and includes a famous scene of his losing his temper after receiving bad news from the front. It has become a frequently used means of ridiculing anyone suspected of losing their self-control by substituting new subtitles.

Harris' version was entitled "Joan's Downfall" after an SNP member of the Scottish Parliament, Joan McAlpine, who accused the SNP's critics of being "anti-Scottish". Salmond is portrayed as being thrown into a fury by the comment because it might give the party a reputation for "Tartan jingoism" and shouting: "Never let them know what we're thinking. Who even gave her permission to think?"

There have been so many other spoofs using this scene from Downfall that YouTube removed most of them in 2010, only to have dozens more pop up. This is the first to have political consequences, simply because it was posted by an MP who risked offending those who do not believe that Hitler or the Nazis should be used for humour.

Harris quit after being contacted by Scotland's new Labour leader Johann Lamont.

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