FORMER Childcare Minister Mark McDonald has been suspended from the SNP after fresh allegations were made yesterday about his conduct.
Party chiefs said last night they had made the decision after new information about the Aberdeen Donside MSP was brought to them in the last 24 hours.
It is understood the allegations have been made by someone not behind the previous complaint which prompted his resignation.
His suspension comes 12 days after he stepped down as Childcare and Early Years Minister after he admitted “inappropriate” behaviour.
An SNP spokesman said: “Following new information being received by the SNP over the course of the last 24 hours relating to the behaviour of Mark McDonald, he has been suspended from both the parliamentary group and the party while further investigation takes place.
“In the interests of due process and appropriate confidentiality no further comment will be made.”
As allegations of sleaze and sexual misconduct spread from Westminster to Holyrood, McDonald was the first politician north of the Border to be named in the scandal. The married father of two resigned from the Scottish Government on November 4.
He said at that time: “Some of my previous actions have been considered to be inappropriate — where I have believed myself to have been merely humorous or attempting to be friendly, my behaviour might have made others uncomfortable or led them to question my intentions.”
Shortly after his resignation Nicola Sturgeon said McDonald’s behaviour in that case was “about language not physical conduct’’, with the First Minister stressing that while it was “right’’ for him to have left the Scottish Government he had not used ‘’language that would come in any way close to being something that would be required to be referred to the police’’.
Earlier this week, the MSP spoke publicly for the first time since his resignation.
Writing in the Aberdeen Press and Journal on Monday, McDonald said he was seeking support to help him to change his behaviour.
“For my apology to mean anything, I must also commit to changing my behaviour and to taking more care in my actions and my language. I am determined to do that,” he said.
“I have been offered support through the SNP to help me understand more about the way I behaved, the impact it had upon others and how I can work to ensure my behaviour does change. I have accepted that offer of support.”
McDonald’s decision to stay on as a SNP MSP following his resignation as a minister was initially supported by the First Minister.
She suggested days after his resignation that he had done the right thing but that “some others may well have thought [his behaviour] was not serious enough to resign”.
But reports last weekend suggested some people in the SNP were concerned that more allegations may be made against him and that senior figures were holding discussions about what course of action should be taken.
A senior source reportedly said at the time: “Lines have been drawn between those who back McDonald and women who are deeply unimpressed with the party’s attempt to protect and support him.”
Last night McDonald said he would co-operate with any investigation.
“I have not been advised of any details relating to the information received by the party but I stand ready to fully cooperate with any investigation into this matter,” he said.
“I will make no further comment at this time and would ask that due process be allowed to take its course and that the privacy of my staff and my family is respected and that they be allowed to go about their daily lives without obstruction.”
McDonald, who was in charge of the Scottish Government’s baby box scheme as a minister, will now sit as an independent MSP in Holyrood. He was replaced as a minister last week by Maree Todd.
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