Nicola Sturgeon ‘still friends' with disgraced text-pest Derek Mackay despite schoolboy scandal
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NICOLA Sturgeon still counts shamed ex-Nats minister Derek Mackay as a 'friend' him being outed for pestering a schoolboy with creepy text messages.
Disgraced Mackay was forced to quit after The Scottish Sun exclusively revealed he was pestering a 16-year-old schoolboy with creepy text messages.
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EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND – FEBRUARY 21: Finance secretary Derek Mackay and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon arrive at the Scottish Parliament during final stage of Scottish Budget on February 21, 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The final debate on the Budget Bill took place ahead of the crucial vote at decision time later today. (Photo by […]
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Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
The former first minister said she went into 'a bit of denial' about the allegations and spared the then-finance chief the walk of shame past his colleagues.
She also told how the disgraced Nat was 'chalk-white and almost totally uncommunicative' when she pressed him on the allegations.
Ms Sturgeon wrote: 'I went into a bit of denial initially, thinking it couldn't possibly be true. Could it?
'Normally, if a minister got into bother, they'd be summoned to my office, but on this occasion, with some misplaced empathy perhaps, I felt I didn't want to put Derek through the ordeal of walking through my outer office, past staff who already had wind of what was afoot.
'So I went to find him instead. He was in his office, a copy of the budget speech he would never deliver sitting on the desk in front of him. He was chalk-white and almost totally uncommunicative.'
But after our story went live, the ex-Nats chief said there was no doubt Mr Mackay had to quit his post.
She wrote: 'I was back at Bute House when the Sun story went online, late that evening. I felt sick as I read it.
'The messages were published in full and were not open to benign interpretation.
'They would be seen by any objective reader as Derek trying to engineer reasons to meet with the boy and to strike up a relationship with him.
'Given the age difference and the power imbalance, it was impossible to describe the exchanges as anything other than inappropriate. I had received and accepted Derek's resignation within the hour.'
Nicola Sturgeon admits mistake on gender ID battle in bombshell TV interview
The former Finance Secretary was forced to quit in February 2020 when we revealed he told a 16-year-old lad he was 'cute' and invited him to dinner while bombarding him with 270 online messages.
We told how Mackay pestered the lad in private on Instagram and Facebook over six months between August 2019 and February 2020 after contacting him out of the blue.
At one point, powerful Mackay told the boy: 'And our chats are between us?'
Opposition leaders at the time slammed Mackay's 'predatory' behaviour – though police ultimately did not take action – and now-ex SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC hit out at his 'totally unacceptable grooming behaviour'.
Despite this, Ms Sturgeon claims she still considers Mr Mackay a 'friend' after he 'rightly paid the price' for his actions.
She wrote: 'However, he had made a serious mistake and, rightly, paid the price. He eventually got his life back on track and, though it would be a few years before I spoke to him again, I still count him as a friend.'
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08/08/2025 – SCOTLAND – The interview, conducted by Julie Etchingham, airs on Monday, 11 August at 7¿pm across ITV. This interview provides a rare chance to hear directly from Nicola Sturgeon following her resignation in March¿2023 and ahead of her memoir launch. It promises a blend of candor, introspection, and reflection on her political legacy, […]
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