The otherwise run-of-the-mill First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament came to a dramatic conclusion this afternoon. Before the Presiding Officer moved onto the next item of business, former Conservative leader Douglas Ross made a point of order alleging that he had been assaulted by an SNP government minister. Crikey!
He told SNP First Minister John Swinney: ‘As I left the chamber yesterday, I was physically assaulted and verbally abused by your minister for parliamentary business, Jamie Hepburn.’ Ross went on to urge Swinney to confirm he takes ‘a zero-tolerance approach to threatening and intimidating behaviour by his ministers’. Talk about the bare minimum, eh?
The incident followed a clash in parliament yesterday over, er, seagulls. The scavenger birds have been wreaking havoc in Ross’s Highlands and Islands area, and the Scottish government reportedly wants to hold a summit about the issue in private.
Ross alleges that, as he was walking out following heated exchanges between the pair, Hepburn grabbed him by the shoulder, began swearing at him and continued to tighten his grip. Swinney has said he will consider the claim, which he was previously unaware of. There has been no response from Hepburn so far.
Given the current focus on political violence, Mr Steerpike suspects Swinney will come under pressure to get to the bottom of Ross’s accusations. The former Scots Tory leader has certainly ruffled feathers at Holyrood today…
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