A FORMER SNP minister who quit Holyrood saying he wanted to switch to academia has revealed he actually left for mental health reasons.
Marco Biagi said he had been diagnosed with depression in 2002 and tried to kill himself, and was once held overnight by the police because they felt he was a danger to himself.
Mr Biagi, 37, a minister for local government and MSP for Edinburgh Central for a single term, stood down from parliament at the 2016 election.
He had previously worked as a political researcher for may years.
He disclosed his problems in a series of candid Twitter posts on World Mental Health Day.
He said that three years ago he had told Nicola Sturgeon and deputy First Minister John Swinney that he was standing down for “health reasons” but did not go into details.
He said he had “binged on food” and “drank alone”, adding: “One night at home I vomited while passed out and may well have avoided choking on it by the luck of having fallen on my side rather than my back.”
He said he was “suicidal on many occasions throughout 2002 and 2003” and was held by the police for a night in July 2003 “because I was suspected of being a risk to myself”.
His mental health improved, and he was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011, recalling: “My spirits had never been higher. It seemed like the ultimate disproving of all the things I had thought those years before when I was sure nothing would ever get better.”
But routines that had previously brought stability were “disrupted” by his new life at Holyrood.
He recalled: “Listening to evidence of child neglect in an Education Committee inquiry, for example, was harrowing. It took a toll. I began to lapse into old patterns.
“I always kept my suit jacket on and wore coloured shirts because I didn’t want anyone seeing my arms. I binged on food. I drank alone.
“One night at home I vomited while passed out and may well have avoided choking on it by the luck of having fallen on my side rather than my back.”
The former MSP, who began a PhD in political sciences at Yale University in 2016, said he had “never known exactly how much this was all an open secret around Holyrood”.
Mr Biagi continued: “My mental health was the real reason I stepped down. I thought I owed the people I represented more than I could deliver. I owed my colleagues more too.
“In private I told the FM and DFM that I was stepping down for health reasons, but didn’t go into detail. Would you? I’m sorry for not being more candid in public at the time.”
He said he was going public as “I feel we are finally getting to a place where we can talk about this, where we can accept that serious ill-health is something that can affect us all.”
Mr Swinney responded: “Didn’t think I could have more respect for you than than I did before, but I do now. Take care.”
Labour health spokesperson Monica Lennon added: “This is really powerful and courageous. Best wishes to you, Marco.”
Mr Biagi’s exit from Holyrood helped boost the career of Ruth Davidson, who won his old seat against an SNP unknown in 2016, cementing her reputation as a Tory phenomenon.
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