Minister Jamie Hepburn resigns after assault claim

Jamie Hepburn said he had not acted in line with his "personal code" of practice

Scottish government minister Jamie Hepburn has resigned after he was accused of physically assaulting the Conservative MSP Douglas Ross.

Ross said the parliament minister grabbed him and swore aggressively as he left the Holyrood chamber on Wednesday.

Hepburn said he put his hand on the former Scottish Tory leader's shoulder and used some "choice words".

The resignation came hours after Ross formally complained about the SNP MSP's conduct in a letter to first minister John Swinney.

In his resignation letter, Hepburn wrote: "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.

"This decision is one that I feel is for the best in these circumstances and the one that for my own part feel is the appropriate course of action."

In a letter of response, Swinney said he accepted Hepburn's resignation with "much personal regret".

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".

'The correct decision' - Ross

Ross later welcomed the announcement.

"This is the correct decision and I also appreciate Jamie Hepburn reaching out following his resignation to personally apologise to me for his behaviour," he said.

"However, this issue should have been settled yesterday when the first minister was made aware of the full facts.

"Jamie Hepburn admitted behaviour that fell well short of that expected of ministers.

"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 Advisors on the Ministerial Code," he added.

Douglas Ross spoke to the media after making the complaint in the Scottish Parliament

Ross made the allegation at the end of First Minister's Questions on Thursday.

After leaving the chamber, he told reporters that Hepburn had grabbed him and sworn "in an aggressive manner" the day before.

The Highlands and Islands MSP claimed the incident happened in front of security and other parliamentary staff, after the pair had clashed over the scheduling of a summit to discuss "out of control" seagulls.

Ross asked for a formal investigation on whether Hepburn breached the ministerial code, saying his behaviour had fallen "well below the standards" for ministers.

Who is Jamie Hepburn?

Hepburn, the MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth since 2011, is a career politician having run the SNP's student and youth wings.

He worked for MSP Alex Neil prior to his own election in 2007 at the age of 28.

He held junior ministerial posts under Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and John Swinney across a huge range of subjects including higher education, youth employment and training, business and skills, employability and training, and sport and mental health.

But his role as minister for independence was perhaps the most notable, given the complaints from unionist opposition parties that the post should not even exist.

It saw him attending independence marches and speaking at rallies, and leading on the publication of a series of government papers on the topic.

First Minister John Swinney accepted Hepburn's resignation with "regret"

Swinney did away with the post when he became first minister, but kept Hepburn on in a relatively important job – that of parliamentary business minister.

There is an old joke at Holyrood that this minister only ever has to give one-word speeches in the chamber – saying "moved" to a business motion.

There is of course more to it than that.

The minister gets to sit in cabinet meetings and has the tricky task in balancing Holyrood's timetable, particularly in the build up to an election when there is a stack of legislation to churn through.

Hepburn is also a popular figure within the Holyrood group, and his wife Julie is a well-known SNP activist and currently the party's head of strategic delivery. There was no shortage of members willing to defend him.

What was behind the incident?

It was a row over that timetabling that ultimately led to his downfall.

A spat over seagulls, of all things, and whether the government would postpone a planned summit or make a statement in the chamber about it, precipitated some sharp exchanges between Hepburn and Ross.

SNP members were particularly exercised that Ross chose to spend several minutes talking about procedure when members were waiting to vote on justice reforms, with the families of victims of crime watching from the public gallery.

It was after that vote that things spilled over into the incident which cost Hepburn his job.

Ross has long relished being a thorn in the side of ministers.

His first minister's questions exchanges with Nicola Sturgeon were calculated to provoke her to snap back at him.

He even managed to get a rise out of mild-mannered Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, who recently kicked him out of the chamber for heckling.

That was why the SNP were initially tempted to circle the wagons around Hepburn. They felt he had been goaded into a moment of weakness.

A government source at one point argued that if you were to start sacking people for using the f-word, there would be nobody left.

The ministerial code states that "working relationships, including with parliamentary colleagues, should be proper and appropriate", and that "harassing, bullying or other inappropriate or discriminating behaviour, wherever it takes place, is not consistent with the ministerial code and will not be tolerated".

On top of that, Swinney's approach since he became first minister has been about trying to build bridges and fostering unity within parliament where possible.

Given the parliamentary business minister has a fairly key role in engaging with opposition parties, Hepburn's position was simply untenable.

There would have been far too many opportunities for the Conservatives to bring the issue up time and again, to make political hay every time a business motion was tabled.

There is also the possibility that if he is returned to parliament next May and the SNP is returned to government, a quick and clean exit means he could easily return to government.