Michael Matheson has quit as health secretary after a probe into his use of an iPad while on holiday.

The minister incurred £10,935.74 while in Morocco, initially looking to use taxpayer money to repay it.

Here's a timeline of the events which led to him stepping down.

November 8, 2023

The Telegraph reveals that Mr Matheson racked up nearly £11,000 in roaming charges, after taking a week long Christmas break to Morocco with his family the previous year.

The health secretary agreed to pay £3,000 from his taxpayer-funded expenses, with the Scottish Parliament picking up the remainder from its own budget.

November 9, 2023

First Minister Humza Yousaf defends Mr Matheson, and says he should not have to pay back the bill.

The SNP leader says it was a legitimate parliamentary expense, with the health secretary explaining that he had been using the iPad for constituency work and had been using an old SIM card, thus incurring the charges.


Read More: First Minister's Questions LIVE: Yousaf faces MSPs after Health Minister quits


November 10, 2023

Mr Matheson agrees to pay back the £10,934.74 from his own pocket.

In a statement he says: "I have contacted the Scottish Parliament authorities this afternoon to make arrangements to reimburse the full cost of the £10,935.74 incurred in roaming charges on my parliament iPad.

"While the parliament agreed to pay the bulk of this sum as a legitimate expense, with the rest being met from my office allowance, I have reflected long and hard and accept that the sim card on this device should have been replaced at an earlier stage."

November 13, 2023

Mr Matheson is asked directly if there was any personal use of the iPad.

He tells reporters: "No."

When asked if anyone else could have used the device, he, again, says, "No".

November 16, 2023

The breakdown of when the roaming charges were incurred is released after a freedom of information request.

The Scottish Parliament document shows that £7,000 was incurred in a single day, January 2, with another £2,000 on December 28.

Eagle-eyed football fans note Celtic defeated Hibs 4-0 at Easter Road on the latter date, and drew 2-2 with Rangers on the former.

The same day an emotional Mr Matheson admits to Holyrood that his sons had used the iPad to watch two football matches.

The Herald:

He told MSPs: "I had not used the iPad for any purpose other than parliamentary and constituency business and so could not understand how the cost could be so high.

"Parliament confirmed the network provider was unable to give them further details of what led to the charges.

"In the absence of a clear explanation of how such a large bill could have happened, I thought it appropriate to make a contribution, through office allowances, of £3,000 towards the cost."

He said it was following the media outcry over his five figure data bill that he "was made aware by my wife that other members of our family had made use of the iPad’s data."

He does not resign.


Read More: Michael Matheson quits as health secretary over £11k data scandal


November 19, 2023

Humza Yousaf again defends his health secretary.

The First Minister said he “should have handled the situation better” but said Mr Matheson was a “man of integrity and honesty.”

November 20, 2023

Mr Matheson is asked by STV if he had “at any point misled anyone about what has gone on here.”

He replies: “No.”

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross describes this as “another outrageous lie that totally undermines last week’s apology.”

“By the timeline he himself set out in his personal statement, it’s clear he lied last Monday. He insisted in interviews then that there was no personal use of his iPad, despite his sons having admitted the previous Thursday that they watched football on it."

November 23, 2023

The Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB) confirms it will “undertake an investigation in line with its duties under the MSP code of conduct” into Mr Matheson’s expenses claim.

November 29, 2023

A poll finds that over 60% of Scots believe Mr Matheson should resign over the incident.

December 19, 2023

Public Health Scotland reports just 60.9% of people were seen within the official four-hour A&E target in the seven days to December 10, a sharp drop on 64.9% the previous week.

It's the worst figure since the week ending January 8.

January 16, 2024

Waiting time performance in Scotland’s A&E units falls to its lowest level in a year , with Glasgow's flagship site, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, recording the worst figure of any hospital on record.

Fewer than two in five patients across Scotland were seen on time, and almost one in five waited more than eight hours.

February 4, 2024

With the deadline for the report into Mr Matheson's conduct passed, Holyrood refuses to say if the health secretary has seen it.

Today

The Daily Mail reports the Holyrood investigation is now complete and has unearthed ‘damning new evidence’ into Mr Matheson’s conduct during the scandal.

Later today

Mr Matheson quits.