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A Scottish minister has resigned after a row over aggressive gulls spilled over into an angry altercation with the former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross.
Jamie Hepburn, the Scottish government’s minister for parliamentary business, tendered his resignation after Ross accused him of assault outside the parliament chamber on Wednesday.
The former leader of the Scottish Tory leader alleged Hepburn had grabbed him by the shoulder before subjecting him to verbal abuse after Ross had challenged Hepburn over the government’s apparent failure to tackle gull attacks on people in his region.
Hepburn denied the assault but acknowledged he used aggressive language, leading Ross to demand an investigation under the ministerial code by John Swinney, the first minister.
The altercation was not caught on CCTV but an unnamed MSP from another party backed up Ross’s account. Ross had accused the government of dithering over plans for a summit to tackle “out of control” gulls.
Swinney had defended Hepburn, who is widely liked within the Scottish National party and respected by opponents. Ross, who quit as Scotland’s Tory leader in a row over his bid to become an MP at the last election, is known for trying to goad ministers.
In his resignation letter, Hepburn acknowledged his behaviour was inappropriate and said it was “quite out of character”. He said: “Irrespective of whether or not the ministerial code has been breached, even if there had been no complaint made, I believe I have not acted in accordance with my own personal code of practice.
“I hope it would be felt by most … that in my personal and professional undertakings I have always tried to act courteously in interacting with colleagues, either of our own party or others. There is no denying that my interaction with Douglas Ross fell well short of that standard.
“Despite whatever annoyance I felt at that particular moment, there is a manner in which that might have been conveyed, or indeed shouldn’t have been conveyed. That is not in utilising the language that I did.”
He added: “With no sense of personal pity, having served continuously in government for almost 11 years it is a source of regret that my tenure in ministerial office comes to an end in this fashion.”
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Ross said Hepburn had contacted him after his resignation to apologise in person about his conduct. Quitting was the “correct decision”, Ross said, adding that Swinney should have acted sooner by sacking Hepburn immediately after he heard about the incident.
“Jamie Hepburn admitted behaviour that fell well short of that expected of ministers,” Ross said. “Instead, John Swinney backed him and the nationalists were determined to ride this out and endorse that behaviour until I called for the situation to be investigated by the independent advisers on the ministerial code.”
Resignations by SNP ministers over matters of honour or principle are very rare. Several have been forced to quit, including the former health secretary Michael Matheson – who faced a parliamentary investigation into how he racked up a near-£11,000 bill on his work iPad – only after serious and substantiated allegations of misconduct came to light.
Swinney said he accepted Hepburn’s resignation with “much personal regret” but said he was leaving office with “my warmest thanks”. He added: “I know there will be no one more frustrated than you, over this one slip in your normal approach of courtesy and respect to all.”
