Yousaf under fire as minister resigns for £11k roaming bill
HUMZA YOUSAF is facing questions over his judgement, honesty and “weak” leadership after his health secretary resigned for running up £11,000 of roaming charges on holiday then billing the taxpayer.
The Telegraph disclosed last year that Michael Matheson racked up the £10,935.74 bill while on a family holiday in Morocco then claimed the money from the public purse by arguing he had been conducting constituency business.
In his resignation letter to Mr Yousaf, he said it was right for “me to now step down to ensure this does not become a distraction to taking forward the government’s agenda”.
His decision to finally quit was a hugely damaging blow to Mr Yousaf and raised major questions about the First Minister’s political judgement in trying to keep him in place. A Scottish Cabinet reshuffle was expected yesterday.
Mr Yousaf had refused to sack Mr Matheson, who admitted last November that the costs had really been incurred by his sons using his parliamentary ipad as an internet hotspot to watch football.
The First Minister described his close ally as a “man of integrity” even though Mr Matheson had lied to the media that nobody else had accessed the device.
In an extraordinary intervention at the height of the scandal, Mr Yousaf insisted the matter was “closed” the day after Mr Matheson told him there had been personal use of the ipad.
Mr Matheson finally resigned after the Scottish Parliament’s ruling corporate body (SPCB) completed its investigation into the scandal.
He was due to be handed a copy of the report in the coming days, which was believed to include damaging new information about his conduct, including allegations he had misled Scottish Parliament officials.
It is understood the SPCB recommended the matter be referred to Holyrood’s standards committee, which has the power to suspend MSPS from parliament.
A suspension would have all but forced Mr Matheson to resign.
In his resignation letter, Mr Matheson did not apologise for his actions.