The furore surrounding Michael Matheson’s near £11,000 iPad data roaming bill was “completely blown out of all proportion”, according to the shamed MSP.
The Falkirk West MSP had initially billed taxpayers before U-turning, claiming the device had only been used for parliamentary work during a family holiday to Morocco.
It later emerged his teenage sons had been using the work iPad as a hotspot to stream football while on the trip.
Mr Matheson, who was first elected as an MSP in 1999, was questioned about his ministerial career during an interview with the Institute for Government (IFG) think tank as part of its Ministers Reflect series.
During the talk, held in October last year but published on Friday, he said his opponents had sought to take “political advantage” of the situation.
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Mr Matheson said: “I think the thing that you need to realise is that when you become a minister, if you do make a mistake, you can end up in the eye of a political storm.
“The thing that acted as a big catalyst for me was that, as soon as the general election was called, everything was put on steroids.
“It became a massive issue because folk saw a political advantage they could get from it. It just got completely blown out of all proportion, in my view.”
Image: Mr Matheson during First Minister’s Questions last May. Pic: PA
Mr Matheson was the net zero, energy and transport secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s government at the time of the family holiday around Christmas in 2022.
Ahead of the trip he failed to replace an outdated SIM card, which led to increased data use costs.
Mr Matheson, who was later appointed health secretary in March 2023 under then first minister Humza Yousaf, told Holyrood he was unaware that his sons had used the iPad as a hotspot when he initially submitted the bill.
Following his wife’s admission, Mr Matheson initially failed to publicly mention his sons’ involvement.
Instead, he continued to insist the iPad was only used for parliamentary work and blamed the outdated SIM card for the excessive bill.
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Mr Matheson’s sons racked up the near £11,000 iPad bill streaming football abroad
When questioned by journalists days after he knew the truth, he continued to deny the iPad was used for personal use until he made a statement to Holyrood.
Mr Matheson quit as health secretary ahead of the conclusion of a probe by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), which ruled he had breached the MSP code of conduct.
When asked if there were any lessons to be learned for other ministers, he told the IFG: “If I look back, the lesson I would say is recognising how unforgiving the political space is that you’re operating in.
“In the end, it was my desire to try and avoid the press knowing about what my son had done.
“It was completely unforgiving, despite the fact that when you offer it up, then they say you’re using it as a cover. Actually, no, I’m not, but I’m telling you that’s what’s happened.
“So, I think what I would say to ministers is that it is quite unforgiving at times when something like that happens, despite what your background is and how long you’ve been in government and how you’ve always tried to avoid getting the government into any difficult positions.”
Image: Mr Matheson being questioned by journalists in November 2023, on the day the SPBC announced it was launching a probe into his conduct
He added: “When you’re a backbencher, if you do make an error, it’s not the same.
“But when you’re a minister and you’re a senior minister, you’re going to get chased down and you quite literally get chased down.”
Mr Matheson said a number of people reached out in support during the scandal.
He also said the scrutiny had a “significant impact” on his family, which included taking his teenage sons out of school and his wife becoming “unwell with stress”.
He added: “It’s in the public record that our house got broken into.”
When questioned about Mr Matheson’s latest comments, First Minister John Swinney said: “The parliament’s worked its way through all of these issues and it’s come to its conclusions and those conclusions stand.
“We just have to consider that as the conclusion that parliament has arrived at.”
The Scottish Conservatives criticised Mr Matheson’s remarks.
MSP Rachael Hamilton, the party’s deputy leader, said: “Taxpayers will be outraged that Michael Matheson is trying to downplay the scandal that ultimately forced him to resign in disgrace.
“The public were rightly furious that the then SNP health secretary thought it acceptable to ask them to foot the bill for his [iPad] expenses.
“He then repeatedly lied to them and parliament and refused to say sorry for what he had done.
“No wonder Scots are so disillusioned with senior SNP figures at Holyrood when they continue to hold voters in such contempt.”
A man has been detained in Leeds after being “seen with weapons” and three people were left injured.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find three people injured and a man was detained at the scene, the force said. The injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Image: Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Image: Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Image: An ambulance inside one of the cordons
Inquiries are under way to establish the “wider circumstances” and a “number” of crime scenes remain in place, they added.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Image: Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Image: Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Image: Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
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Image: Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
The trip came just a week-and-a-half after Buckingham Palace confirmed the King had been taken to hospital following side effects related to his ongoing cancer treatment.
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Pope’s coffin passes Colosseum after Vatican service
Number 10 confirmed the prime minister received an invite and so he attended the ceremony.
Speaking on Tuesday, Sir Keir said there had been “an outpouring of grief and love” for the Pope.
He added: “I think it reflects the high esteem in which he was held, not just by millions and millions of Catholics, but by many others, across the world, myself included.”
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Trump pays respects to Pope
The US president was one of the first to confirm he would be flying to Rome, adding he would be joined by first lady Melania Trump.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, he said: “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!”
The Pope had been critical of Mr Trump at times during his tenure.
In January, he said it would be a “disgrace” if the president went ahead with his crackdown on immigration, telling an Italian television station: “It would make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid bill.
“It doesn’t work. You don’t resolve problems this way.”
Image: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) arrives for the funeral. Pic: AP
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Scale of funeral service from above
The Italian premier, along Argentine leader Javier Milei (below) had place of pride in the seating order for the service.
The Vatican is, of course, surrounded by the Italian capital Rome, while the Pope was born and grew up in Argentina and was once Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The president of Pope Francis’s native Argentina was also at the ceremony, despite having launched insults at Francis in recent years.
Before taking office in December 2023, the far-right politician called him “an imbecile, the representative of evil on Earth”.
Mr Milei alluded to their “differences” in his tribute to the late Pope, writing: “It is with profound sorrow that I learned this sad morning that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, passed away today and is now resting in peace.
“Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a true honour for me.”
Former US president Joe Biden, 82, was at the funeral with his wife Jill. The couple were seen taking their places in the bright sunshine prior to the service.
Mr Biden appeared to be getting some help to his seat, taking the arm of a member of the church.
• Ireland’s taoiseach Micheal Martin • Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia • Albanian president Bajram Begaj • Angola’s president Joao Lourenco • Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen • Bangladesh’s chief adviser and interim leader Muhammad Yunus • Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, along with prime minister Bart De Wever • Canada’s governor general Mary Simon • Cape Verde president Jose Maria Neves • Croatia’s president Zoran Milanovic • Cyprian president Nikos Christodoulides • Czech Republic’s prime minister Petr Fiala • Democratic Republic of Congo president Felix Tshisekedi • Dominican Republic’s president Luis Abinader • East Timor’s president Jose Ramos-Horta • Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa • Estonia’s president Alar Karis • Finland’s president Alexander Stubb • Gabon’s president Brice Oligui Nguema • German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz • Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis • Honduras president Xiomara Castro • Hungary’s president Tamas Sulyok • Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella and prime minister Giorgia Meloni • Latvian president Edgars Rinkevics • Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda • Moldova’s president Maia Sandu • Netherlands’ prime minister Dick Schoof • New Zealand’s prime minister Christopher Luxon • Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit • The Philippines’ president Ferdinand Marcos Jr • Poland’s president Andrzej Duda • Portugal’s president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and prime minister Luis Montenegro • Romania’s interim president Ilie Bolojan • Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia and prime minister Ulf Kristersson • Switzerland’s president Karin Keller-Sutter
Image: Pope Francis walks next to Putin at the Vatican in 2015. Pic: AP
The Russian president did not attend the funeral.
But the controversial leader paid tribute to the Pope, writing a message to Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is interim chief of the Catholic Church.
“Please accept my most sincere condolences on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Mr Putin said.
“Throughout the years of his pontificate, he actively promoted the development of dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, as well as constructive cooperation between Russia and the Holy See.”
Image: Pope Francis and Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the Vatican in 2013. Pic: AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also did not attend the ceremony, with the country’s ambassador Yaron Sideman going instead.
The Jewish state and the Vatican have had strong relations in the past, with Israel sending a presidential delegation to the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, and Pope Francis visiting Israel in 2014.
But their relationship has deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza.
A month after the conflict started in 2023, a dispute broke out over whether Pope Francis had used the word “genocide” to describe events in Gaza. Palestinians who met with him said he did, but the Vatican said he did not.
The Pope met relatives of Israeli hostages on the same day.
Israeli officials have since lobbied the Vatican to be more forceful in its condemnation of Hamas.
In January, the Pope called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “shameful”, prompting criticism from Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, who accused Francis of “selective indignation”.
Rabbi Di Segni said he would be attending the funeral, despite it taking place on the Jewish sabbath.
Was there a seating plan?
The seats were assigned in advance, with the heads of state sitting in French alphabetical order based on their country’s name, rather than on the individual’s.
This applied to everyone apart from the presidents of Italy and Argentina, who got the best seats because the Pope lived in Italy and was an Argentinian native.