Thursday 23 November 2023
By Bill Heaney
A man who never made a mistake never made a discovery…
These were wise words from Samuel Smiles. And Humza Yousaf today admitted Michael Matheson “had made mistakes” but refused to say if his claim for £11,000 of taxpayers’ money was legitimate and honest.
It appears that many members of the Scottish Parliament do not agree with the First Minister.
They believe the Health Secretary is a cheat and a liar. I don’t.
It’s my sincerely held belief that his MSP colleagues have brought shame on Holyrood by refusing to believe his story of how he came to run up an £11,000 bill for his i pad.
That this was an honest mistake caused by an embarrassing episode when his teenage sons sneaked a session on it to watch a football match while they were on a family holiday last Christmas in Morocco.
And didn’t let their father into the secret.
It wisnae him. He is neither a cheat nor a liar. And he didn’t commit fraud.
Those MSPs who are attempting to hound Michael Matheson out of office, if not out of parliament altogether, will never be able to prove that he committed a crime, which is what they are alleging.
The lawyers amongst them must know he didn’t have any intention to watch the match with his sons and and charge the cost to the parliament.
That he only found out the circumstances of what happened when he received the bill.
If you ask me, this sounds like a case for Aamer Anwar, right, although he is far too busy right now present representing clients in cases against the Scottish Government for them having misled and let down the public over Covid.
The Scottish Government have attempted to muddy the waters in that case. The MSPs are up to the same game in the Matheson case.
They can’t make the excuse that they were never told what was happening to patients in care homes. It was the Government, after all, who sent them there from hospital, ignoring the fact they had contracted the virus and might pass it on to others. The consequences in those cases were deadly.
Now that Mr Matheson has reimbursed the public purse with all of the money he claimed on his parliamentary expenses, not through his own fault but because his sons foolishly didn’t let him know what they were up to, the MSPs should drop this matter, which exposes the fact that they have no sense of humour. They have become a laughing stock.
This could have happened to a bishop, although they don’t (usually) have children to play such tricks on them.
Obviously, our own MSP doesn’t agree. Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “Our NHS is on the brink of a deadly winter crisis but this Health Secretary is too busy fighting for his job.
“We cannot have the people of Scotland failed by a distracted Health Secretary who is more interested in protecting his ministerial salary than protecting our NHS. It is clear that Michael Matheson must go and allow a new Health Secretary to focus on the crisis in our NHS.”
At First Minister’s Questions today, Douglas Ross raised multiple statements from Michael Matheson in relation to the iPad roaming-charges “scandal”.
He challenged Humza Yousaf to sack Michael Matheson for deliberately making a false claim for £11,000 of taxpayers’ money and repeatedly lying about it to the public and the press.
Today on BBC Good Morning Scotland, the Deputy First Minister, Shona Robison, was asked if, as a point of principle, ministers in the Scottish Government always tell parliament and the public the truth. She replied only that they “aim” to tell the truth.
Douglas Ross said: “The Scottish Parliament investigation on Michael Matheson’s £11,000 claim is welcome, but the SNP government can’t hide behind it.
“The health secretary must come forward to answer all questions in Parliament and Humza Yousaf must start to answer questions fully and frankly.
“Michael Matheson gave Parliament written assurances that this £11,000 bill was the result of constituency work and that alone.
“But his story has changed, and he now wants us to believe he was clueless about how that bill happened.
“If he had no idea how that bill was run up, why on earth did he claim taxpayers’ money for it?
“Michael Matheson is taking the public for fools. He repeatedly misled the press and the public in multiple statements. If it was an honest mistake, why did he make so many dishonest statements about it?
“Humza Yousaf has been drawn into this scandal. He stuck to the same story even after he knew it was false.
“The First Minister refused to say if this was a legitimate expense. He refuses to say if he expects government ministers to be honest.
“It seems that dishonesty is now official SNP Government policy.”
Of course it wasn’t a legitimate expense. Of course his story has changed. Mr Matheson didn’t know what had happened when he was first asked to explain it.
Perhaps Mr Matheson didn’t know what his boys were up to and that he did actually think the excessive bill had been run up on parliamentary business.
Or that it was the kind of mistake [an IT fault] which even governments believe happens to them [often] when large sums of money disappear from their accounts?
Unfortunately, we are going to hear more of this saga in the Holyrood chamber this afternoon.
Our MSPs should have better things to do with their time and our money. This inquiry is a waste of both. At Westminster this would not see the light of day. And it shouldn’t at Holyrood. What goes on in Morocco should stay in Morocco.
ENDS