Mark McDonald was suspended from Holyrood yesterday – but he left with a warning that public accusations and insults against under-fire politicians can end in tragedy.
The former early years minister was given the toughest punishment handed down since devolution after 101 of his MSP colleagues voted to ban him from the Scottish Parliament for one month without pay.
Mr McDonald, who was found to have sexually harassed a parliament worker, told The Press and Journal last night that he accepted the verdict and would use the time to “rebuild and reflect”.
But after being cleared of other allegations, he issued an appeal for people to think carefully about the consequences of their public attacks.
Hinting that he had contemplated suicide during the inquiries into his behaviour towards two women, he said the claims had a “serious impact” on his mental health, and criticised the reaction of some colleagues to the standards committee recommendation last week that he should be suspended.
He added: “I understand that any attempt by me to talk about that impact will inevitably be seen by some people as a pathetic plea for sympathy.
“If you want to be in a society where we’re encouraging people to be open about their own personal experiences of mental health problems, suicide, stress – we need to be in a place where people can do that, without having these kinds of insults thrown at them.”
Mr McDonald had previously spoken about the way his mental health had suffered, and the impact on his family, from public allegations which were not proven during a probe by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life.
They included that he had lurked at a Holyrood exit waiting for a woman, and that his harassment had contributed to an illness she suffered.
Last November, in the same week that Mr McDonald quit the Scottish Government after a complaint was made about his behaviour, Welsh Government minister Carl Sargeant took his own life, having been accused of inappropriate conduct towards women.
However, Mr McDonald confirmed that he would not be taking legal action against the SNP or any former colleagues.
“I think while I have had advice from some quarters that I should consider taking the matter further, I think in the interests of my own wellbeing, and the wellbeing of others who I hold no ill will towards, but who would inevitably find themselves involved, I don’t see any point in dragging it out further,” he said.
MSPs yesterday voted overwhelmingly to back the standards committee’s recommendation that Mr McDonald be banned from Holyrood between September 3 and October 2.
He had been found to have breached the code of conduct by sending Twitter messages to a woman which created an “intimidating, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment” and “involved sexual harassment”.
However, six SNP MSPs abstained from the vote – including the two deputy presiding officers, Christine Grahame and Linda Fabiani.
“I said I would accept the decision of parliament and that is what I intend to do,” said Mr McDonald.
He added that he hoped that when he returned to the Scottish Parliament in October – 11 months after he quit as early years minister when an initial complaint was made about his conduct – he would be able to move on from the controversy.
“My intention is, now that the sanction has been decided, I will serve that period of suspension. I will come back and I hope at that point I would not have to continue to look back at this period,” he said.
“I appreciate and understand there are people out there affected by my conduct, I’ve apologised to these people. I want to demonstrate that I’ve reflected on that conduct and committed to better conduct.”
