Who is Scotland’s iPad row minister Michael Matheson?

By Megan BonarBBC Scotland News

Michael Matheson has resigned as Scotland’s health secretary

Michael Matheson has stood down from his role as health secretary after a row over an £11,000 mobile data bill he racked up while on holiday.

Mr Matheson is one of only nine MSPs who are remaining members of the 1999 club – elected to every Scottish Parliament since its inception.

He was first elected as a regional MSP for central Scotland, before becoming MSP for Falkirk West in 2007.

Before his political career, he was an occupational therapist for Highland council and Stirling council.

Born in the Toyrglen area of Glasgow in 1970, Mr Matheson went to St John Bosco Secondary School before going on to study occupational therapy at Queen Margaret College in Edinburgh.

Nicola Sturgeon joined Michael Matheson on the campaign trail in 2016

Mr Matheson sat on the Holyrood backbenches until 2011, when he was appointed Minister for Public Health – supporting Nicola Sturgeon in her job as health secretary at the time.

When Ms Sturgeon became first minister in 2014, he was given his own cabinet position as justice secretary.

At the time there was some concern that Mr Matheson had not come from a law-related background, unlike his predecessor Kenny MacAskill.

Mr Matheson answered these claims by telling Holyrood Daily everyone takes “their own approach” and he would adopt an evidence-based leadership style.

A number of high-profile incidents that brought Police Scotland under scrutiny happened during his time in the justice brief.

These included the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill, who lay undiscovered by the M9 for three days in 2015, and the death of Sheku Bayoh in police custody the same year.

Mr Matheson’s lack of interference led to him being dubbed the “invisible man” by Labour justice spokeswoman Claire Baker MSP.

He faced calls to stand down in 2017 after being caught in a row over whether he interfered with the Scottish Police Authority over the future of the chief constable – a claim he denied.

Matheson served as Transport Secretary from 2018 until 2023

Mr Matheson presided over legislation that led to thousands of gay and bisexual men in Scotland receiving a pardon for convictions relating to same-sex activity.

He said this was an “important step towards addressing the injustice faced by many gay men in the past”.

In a cabinet reshuffle in 2018, he was shifted to Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity.

During this time his is portfolio changed, with infrastructure and connectivity being replaced with net zero and energy, becoming secretary for net zero, energy and transport.

In 2023, he was appointed cabinet secretary for NHS recovery, health and social care in new first minister Humza Yousaf’s first government.

Just months into the role, Matheson was met by requests for a pay rise by junior doctors and the threat of strikes.

After negotiation a 12.4% pay rise was accepted, an offer Matheson called the “single biggest investment in junior doctor pay since devolution”.

Mr Matheson has been appointed to five Scottish government cabinets

Away from politics, according to Mr Matheson’s website, he is a “keen mountaineer” a hobby that has taken him to the Western Himalayas.

But it was a trip to Morocco in December 2022, that would mark the beginning of his political downfall.

In November 2023 it emerged that Matheson had racked up an £11,000 data roaming bill by using his parliamentary iPad while on the family holiday.

The health secretary claimed the iPad was used to conduct constituency work, and the data charges incurred were due to a failure to replace an old sim card.

The Scottish Parliament released a breakdown of Mr Matheson’s data usage on the trip, which showed the health secretary was billed more than £7,000 of fees in one day.

Humza Yousaf backed his minister “100%” claiming the bill was a “legitimate parliamentary expense”, but members of the Scottish Conservative party had threated to table a vote of no confidence vote against him.

But in February 2024, ahead of the publication of an investigation into the incident by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body, Mr Matheson said he was standing down.

He said he did not want the row over the bill to become a distraction.