A SENIOR SNP politician has defended accepting hospitality from one of the most ultra-Unionist groups in Scotland - the Orange Order.

David Stocks, leader of the SNP opposition on North Lanarkshire Council, attended the Order’s annual awards ceremony, known as the Orange Oscars, it has emerged.

He said he had enjoyed attending, "being a Christian".

The Orange Order, or Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland, calls itself a “Protestant Christian fraternity” but is seen by some as sectarian, anti-Catholic, and representative of the darker side of British nationalism. It is a ferocious critic of Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.

A registered No campaigner in the 2014 referendum, the Orange Order orchestrated a 15,000-strong rally in Edinburgh on the weekend before the ballot under the banner British Together.

Recent issues of its official journal, the Orange Torch, have referred to Sturgeon as "Wee Nippy", "Soory McSoorface" and a “furious vixen”, and called SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson a “pompous windbag” and Alex Salmond a “pathetic washed up loser”.

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

Before the 2015 general election, it published a seat-by-seat guide on how to vote for Unionist candidates to “defeat the separatist agenda”, and afterwards referred to Patrick Grady, the new SNP Glasgow North MP, as “Paddy Grady MP”.

It recently summed up its politics as: "The Union, with its social and political cohesion, Reformed Christian ethos, democratic liberties and constitutional monarchy is surely one of the principles that the Order is all about. There’s no place in the lodge room for the selfish, narrow-minded divisiveness of nationalism.”

Despite the Order’s uncompromising views, Stocks, a councillor for Airdrie Central, attended its 12th annual awards ceremony in Bellshill as the guest of a constituent.

His council register of interests now states: “Invitation to Orange Order Awards Dinner at Strathclyde Hilton - 6 November 2015”.

Photos of the night show over 100 men and women, most in orange sashes, in a room filled with orange and purple balloons, and a stage backdrop saying The Orange Oscars.

The main award - Lodge of the Year - went to the County Grand Lodge of Glasgow for “the outstanding success” of the its so-called Orangefest gala in the city’s George Square.

At the time, SNP councillors in Glasgow said they were “deeply concerned” by the gathering and 20,000 people signed an online petition against “sectarian, hate-filled Orange marches”.

Other North Lanarkshire councillors have also declared Orange hospitality, including Labour leader Jim Logue, who attended the Grandmaster’s Annual Dinner in March, and Labour councillor Andrew Spowart, who was at both the Orange Oscars and Grandmaster’s Dinner.

However Stocks, a member of the council sub-committee that decides whether to allow Orange and other processions, is the only SNP councillor to have taken such hospitality.

A senior SNP source said: “It’s bizarre. Whatever would possess a Nationalist to go along to an event where they’re hammering the First Minister? Not sound political judgment, clearly.”

A source close to Stocks added: “He’s from the protestant persuasion like myself. He’s an avid Rangers supporter. He’s got that connection. But he just happens to be a Nat. He’s a nice guy. But I can see the political paradox.”

Adding to Stocks’s embarrassment, the June edition of the Torch carried a cover picture of one of his SNP council colleagues, Fulton MacGregor, under the headline “Scotland Shamed”.

The picture showed MacGregor, in full Highland dress, being sworn in as the MSP for Coatbridge & Chryston, with the text referring to his repeated “no shows” at election hustings.

Stocks refused to discuss the politics of the Order.

He said: “We live in a culturally diverse area, and as Councillors receive invitations from all parts of the community. I recently attended the Kirkin O the Council in Christ the King Church in Holytown, and Leaver Masses in some of our schools.

“I don't see any of these attendances as a chore, being a Christian, I enjoy them.

“As far as the Processions Sub-Committee is concerned, I do not feel compromised in any way, and having been on it for many years, I am confident I have worked with my colleagues in arriving at the correct decisions , irrespective of the Organisation involved.”