Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald ordered to apologise for bullying over security pass incident
A Liberal Democrat MP has been ordered to apologize after he was found to have breached Parliament’s rules on bullying.
Angus MacDonald, who represents Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, was investigated by Parliament’s complaints service following an incident involving a contractor’s security card in 2025.
The investigation was initiated upon the complaint of the contractor, who worked as a one-on-one court reporter on the first day and was trained to follow parliamentary committee proceedings.
The contractor claimed he grabbed the security pass that Mr MacDonald was wearing around his neck “without any prior warning and with such force that he physically bent forward” and “semi-bent over” ahead of a meeting of the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee.
During a subsequent investigation by Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Service (ICGS), Mr MacDonald said he did not remember anything about the incident.
He claimed he “probably read the complainant’s name on the pass” and denied bullying the contractor.
He also argued that even though he had the contractor’s permission, the action did not amount to bullying or harassment.
The ICGS investigation and Parliament’s standards commissioner upheld the contractor’s complaint but Mr MacDonald challenged its findings, claiming there were flaws in the investigation and its findings were unreasonable.
But an independent panel of experts rejected Mr MacDonald’s appeal as having “no merit”.
In a report published on Tuesday, the panel said: “The procedures were not materially flawed, they were not unfair, and the commissioner’s decisions were not unreasonable.”
Instructing Mr MacDonald to offer the contractor a “full and unconditional apology in writing”, the expert panel said there was a “significant imbalance of power” between the MP and the complainant.
They also found the complainant’s vulnerability as a new employee and someone who had been subjected to serious harassment in his youth as aggravating factors, but also noted that Mr MacDonald was unaware of these.
The panel also noted that the case consisted of a single incident and that Mr MacDonald expressed his remorse by providing a “brief written apology” during the investigation.
They added: “However, his remorse is not entirely clear. While he accepts that he may have held the security pass without warning or request, he still denies using any force.”
“However, in his statement he expresses deep regret that the complainant was left upset and disrespected.”
A spokesman for Mr MacDonald said: “Mr MacDonald accepts the conclusions of this report and has issued a full apology in writing to the complainant. He regrets any distress caused to the person concerned.”
