I would hope I’m not a sex pest, says McDonald
MARK McDonald has denied being a sex pest ahead of his controversial return to the Scottish parliament.
The former SNP childcare and early years minister admitted he sent ‘ham-fisted’ messages to women – but strongly contests that any of the allegations made against him relate to ‘physically abusive’ behaviour.
Mr McDonald is planning this week to return to Holyrood for the first time since last November, after confessing to behaving inappropriately towards women.
In response, Nationalist MSP James Dornan has now said he will lodge a formal complaint with parliamentary authorities, demanding that Mr McDonald be prevented from returning to Holyrood.
Mr Dornan told how a member of his staff was left so distressed by Mr McDonald’s conduct that she ended up in hospital.
It is also understood that several female MSPs are reluctant for their offices to be near that of Mr McDonald.
An internal SNP investigation into the allegations against the father of two concluded he had exploited his position of power by sending inappropriate and unwanted text and social media messages.
Mr McDonald, 37, has now told Holyrood magazine that ‘there is nothing that I have done that was physically abusive in nature’.
He added: ‘I don’t dispute that I have behaved in a way that fell below the professional standards that should be expected of me, but if we are to say that people cannot make a mistake and then rehabilitate and return, what message are we sending out more widely?’
He also said that some of the messages he sent to women were simply ‘jokes’ which were interpreted in a ‘sinister’ way.
Mr McDonald told the magazine: ‘I genuinely was making a very hamfisted attempt at being friendly to someone and making what I thought was a joke which was clearly taken in a much more, which was clearly perceived in a much more sinister way, and I have to accept that comes down to the whole question around the dynamics of individual relationships and the way in which, the need to better understand, how people receive me.’
Mr McDonald resigned from the SNP last week. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon later urged him to quit parliament and give his constituents in Aberdeen Donside the chance to elect a new MSP.
MSPs can only be disqualified from parliament over a custodial sentence of 12 months or more.
Mr McDonald said he wanted to return to ensure he is not primarily remembered for this scandal.
When asked if people should consider him a sex pest, he replied: ‘I would hope not.’
He said: ‘One of the hardest parts of this is having a version of you held up that you don’t recognise as you. And it doesn’t tally with how you see yourself.’
He added: ‘I want to come back and demonstrate, yes to colleagues, yes to constituents, but also to my kids, that this wasn’t all that I was. That this wasn’t the sum of me, because otherwise this will be their truth.
‘I feel an obligation to them to try to demonstrate that you can come back from mistakes that you make and that if you show that you’ve learned from your mistakes, not everybody will accept it.
‘It would be foolish for me to think people are going to welcome me back with open arms, you know, welcome me back into the fold.
‘I’ve got to work hard and prove myself all over again but I’m determined to do that.’
‘You can come back from mistakes’