ONE of Holyrood's most senior MSPs has been secretly video-taped as part of a dispute with a former member of staff.
Christine Grahame, convener of the Justice Committee, was filmed by the ex-staffer as he tried to gather evidence of alleged improper use of parliamentary resources.
A leaked email also shows her calling a Green MSP a “prissy p****” and defending a former MSP who implied a rape victim may have been a prostitute.
Grahame, 67, has been an MSP since 1999 and represents Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale for the Nationalists.
She is embroiled in a dispute with former employee Mark Hirst, who worked for her from 2004.
Hirst, who was suspended by Grahame and dismissed last month for gross misconduct, has made allegations about the MSP to the Electoral Commission, Parliament’s Standards Commissioner, and the police.
The ex-employee claims to have evidence of staff working on SNP business and Grahame’s recent election campaign while they were being paid from the public purse.
He also alleges these staff costs were not included in her Holyrood election return.
Over a number of months, while working on her staff, Hirst gathered emails and secretly recorded his former boss in her Holyrood office.
Much of the footage has been handed to the authorities.
In addition, Grahame has been criticised over an email to former Glasgow Tory MSP Bill Aitken.
In the last Parliament, Aitken filled the role Grahame currently occupies, convener of the Justice Committee. However, he quit the post in February after suggesting to the Sunday Herald that an area in Glasgow in which a woman was raped was frequented by “a lot of hookers”.
The comments provoked outrage and led to Green Party MSP Patrick Harvie condemning the Tory politician in a parliamentary motion.
In her email, entitled “resignation”, Grahame said: “Just heard that tonight on radio. Firstly, I think the journo was a s****. Patrick is a prissy p****. Speak to you tomorrow?”
Grahame, considered a maverick by some colleagues, is overseeing the scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s anti-sectarianism Bill.
Hirst said: “I and my union believe we have a very strong case that we expect to bring against Ms Grahame in due course at an employment tribunal.
“I believe I was unfairly dismissed on grounds of gathering information with a view to whistleblowing her questionable party political and election activity at Parliament and in her constituency office.”
Harvie said: “I am sure in her calmer moments she would recognise Bill Aitken’s comments were completely unacceptable.”
A Labour spokesman said: “As convener of the Justice Committee her comments regarding Bill Aitken suggests that as Justice Committee convener she is now compromised and her judgment deeply flawed.”
A spokesman for Grahame said: “Mr Hirst is an ex-employee of Ms Grahame and was dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct. Ms Grahame will not comment on any clandestine recordings in her private office or stolen emails.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article