Sleaze-row MSP will be banished to ‘dungeon’ as he faces fresh probe
Ex-minister forced into basement office
‘Inappropriate messages’ ‘He should stand down as an MSP’
SHAMED former minister Mark McDonald was yesterday accused by an excolleague of a sinister campaign of ‘harassment and sexual innuendo’.
It came as MSPs prepared to launch a new probe into the politician’s behaviour – and it emerged that he has been banished to Holyrood’s basement, known as ‘the dungeon’.
In a formal complaint, Nationalist MSP James Dornan revealed details about the ordeal of a female member of his staff.
He claimed the woman repeatedly told him that the conduct of married Mr McDonald was causing her distress..
Mr Dornan added that the anguish contributed to severe stress, which led to the woman being hospitalised after a stroke.
When he returns to work for the first time in four months today, Mr McDonald will work from an office in the parliament’s basement – because Nationalist MSPs do not want him on their floor.
The former childcare minister, who refuted Mr Dornan’s claims, yesterday said he believes he can morally justify clinging on to his £62,000-a-year job, despite facing growing calls to quit.
Mr McDonald stood down from the SNP after an investigation found he exploited his position and caused distress to women by sending inappropriate messages.
The Scottish parliament’s code of conduct states that harassment complaints will be ‘taken seriously and investigated’.
On Thursday, the standards committee will decide what steps to take after the latest complaint.
Members can refer the matter for investigation to either parliament officials or the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life. Following an investigation, the committee can then decide on a range of possible actions, including withdrawing an MSP’s right of access to the parliamentary complex – which would effectively prevent him or her from doing their job and could force them to resign.
In his formal letter of complaint, submitted to standards committee convener Clare Haughey yesterday, Glasgow Cathcart MSP Mr Dornan said his staff member experienced ‘a targeted campaign of harassment and sexual innuendo’. He said he was first approached by her in 2016, when he urged the woman to take the matter further but she was ‘afraid and anxious’ because Mr McDonald was a minister at the time.
Mr Dornan wrote: ‘Mr McDonald sent her highly inappropriate messages on social media, which my staff member immediately showed me. I also witnessed him show unwanted attention within the parliament grounds on a number of occasions. On one occasion, I had to leave an event I was hosting to escort my staff member to a waiting car as she was sure Mr McDonald was waiting for her.
‘As we left the building he was standing close to the exit, and I have no doubt he was indeed waiting for her.’
He claimed that, in July 2017, the woman became so unwell due to stress that she was admitted to hospital with a stroke, which led to her taking six months off work.
The MSP admitted that the woman was under other ‘extreme pressure’, but insisted the situation was ‘compounded by a member who should have known better and who, in my opinion, used his position to harass her’.
Mr Dornan went on: ‘In my view, having Mr McDonald in the same workplace as his victims would be a clear negation of the duty of care that the parliament has to all its members of staff.’
The underground area where Mr McDonald’s new office is located has no windows and is normally used only for security staff, janitors and backroom workers. It is close to the staff car park, mail room and showers.
The former minister was initially set to be located on the SNP’s corridor on the fourth floor, next to MSP Kate Forbes. But the SNP chief whip raised concerns about this arrangement.
Economy Secretary Keith Brown yesterday added to calls for his former colleague to quit.
He told the BBC: ‘I think the position is if you concede the point that you have acted inappropriately and you think that has been sufficiently bad that you have to resign as an SNP MSP, I think the logic of that means that you should resign as an MSP as well.’
During a round of TV interviews yesterday, Mr McDonald said he could morally justify his return, adding: ‘My approach to this has been to own the mistakes that I have made [and] to demonstrate that I have learned from them and that I am capable of changing as a result of those.’
He accepted that it would be ‘difficult’ for any of his victims to see him in the parliament, but said: ‘I will be doing nothing to either seek or to directly contact the individuals who were involved in the investigation and that’s not something I intend to do .... I hope people will give me that chance to prove myself.’ He apologised for the ‘hurt and offence’ he had caused, adding: ‘I will be doing my utmost to ensure I don’t put myself or those individuals in any situations on my return which could potentially cause them any upset.’
Referring to the allegations made by Mr Dornan, he said: ‘I refute any suggestion I was waiting in the parliament for the individual in question after an event, and refuted this during the investigation process.
‘Similarly I have not been advised that my conduct was being linked to the specific health matter described by Mr Dornan, neither at the point of initial complaint nor at any stage of the investigation.’
Scottish Labour parliamentary business manager Rhoda Grant said: ‘Mark McDonald’s behaviour has clearly been unacceptable and he should stand down as an MSP. The SNP has so far refused to publish its investigation into his behaviour... it is now absolutely essential that its findings are released, in a redacted form to protect the women involved, as well as handed to the police.’
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: ‘These are astonishing allegations from an MSP which will shock voters, many of whom will wonder why they are only surfacing now. The allegations are extremely serious and must be fully investigated.’
A spokesman for the Scottish parliament said it would be up to the standards committee ‘to decide how its wishes to proceed’ over Mr Dornan’s allegations.
Asked what the parliament is doing to protect Mr McDonald’s victims when he returns, the spokesman said: ‘We stand ready to provide assistance to them and anyone else who needs it.’