Ex-minister quits over sext scandal – with £50k payoff
A DISGRACED former minister who stood down from the SNP after being accused of sexual harassment is to quit as an MSP.
Mark McDonald yesterday announced that he will not run in next year’s Scottish parliament elections.
The Aberdeen Donside MSP said he will forever be ‘defined by the mistakes I made’ and had paid a ‘significant, lasting price’.
He has faced calls to quit his seat since complaints about his conduct emerged, which led to him resigning as childcare minister in November 2017.
An investigation found the father of two exploited his position and caused women ‘distress’ by sending ‘inappropriate’ messages. His decision to cling on until next year means he will be entitled to a taxpayer-funded ‘resettlement’ grant of around £50,000 to help him adjust to life outside politics.
In a statement posted on social media, Mr McDonald, 39, said he was ‘proud’ of some of his achievements since becoming an MSP in 2011 but admitted: ‘None of these achievements will be the things which people will associate with me, and my time in office will forever be defined by the mistakes I have made, and for which I have paid a significant and lasting price.’
He added: ‘I will have to live forever with consequences of those mistakes and the upset they caused, and it is appropriate for me to reiterate here the apologies I have made before. I continue to seek to make right the things I got wrong.’
Mr McDonald quit the SNP in March 2018, only days before he was due to find out if he would be expelled from the party.
He was also suspended from Holyrood for a month. He returned as an independent.
An SNP probe ruled his actions included inappropriate and unwanted text and social media messages, unwanted attention causing distress, persistent behaviour over an extended period of time and exploiting his position of power. One woman alleged ‘inappropriate physical contact’ but investigators were unable to substantiate this.
Explaining his decision not to run again, Mr McDonald said a re-election campaign would end up focusing on him and not the ‘important issues which affect communities I represent’.
He added: ‘I shall continue for the next 12 months, as I have done since my first day in the job, to represent the communities of this constituency to the best of my ability, and I look forward to continuing to meet constituents and organisations to enable their voices to be heard.
‘I hope the candidates who are selected to contest the seat will engage the imaginations of the voters with positive ideas for how to improve their communities.
‘Aberdeen Donside is a wonderful constituency. I have been proud to represent it since 2013.’