Derek Mackay backed campaign to protect children from online abuse before sending texts to 16-year-old boy

Former minister accused Conservatives of ‘playing politics with the safety of vulnerable children’

Scotland’s former finance secretary, who quit after sending messages to a 16-year-old boy, once backed a campaign to protect teenagers from online abuse.

Derek Mackay, 42, resigned from his ministerial role and was suspended from the Scottish National Party (SNP) after it emerged he allegedly sent hundreds messages to the teenager through Facebook and Instagram.

The MSP has now been branded a “hypocrite” for backing a 2017 SNP child protection campaign that warned of the “emotional impact” of social media abuse on children, The Times reported.

Mr Mackay reportedly promoted the campaign on his website as well as his social media accounts, which have since been shut down.

The newspaper reported a Scottish Conservatives spokesman as saying Mr Mackay’s support for the campaign was “hypocritical in the extreme”.

In a 2016 post still visible on his website, Mr Mackay also accused the Conservatives of “playing politics with the safety of vulnerable children” in reference to their opposition to the Named Person child protection strategy.

He wrote: “To have sought to play politics with the safety of vulnerable children like this is nothing less than shameful.”

Another article on the website reported Mr Mackay had written to local headteachers, encouraging schools to visit the Scottish Parliament.

The former minister is facing fresh allegations that he sent dozens of unwanted messages to a married SNP activist over a period of four years.

Shaun Cameron, 25, told the Daily Record Mr Mackay contacted him on Facebook after meeting him at an SNP event when he was 21.

Former Scotland finance secretary Derek Mackay (left) pictured with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, 14 October, 2016. (Russell Cheyne/Reuters/File photo)

He claimed some of the messages he received from the politician were “quite suggestive”.

Mr Cameron, who is straight and got married last year, alleges that in January 2017 Mr Mackay asked “are these conversations just between us?” and, when the younger man said yes, invited him to stay over in Edinburgh.

In September that year Mr Mackay allegedly asked “got any naughty pics?”

Mr Cameron claimed he ignored the messages, which eventually tailed off, but he received more at the end of last year.

He told the Daily Record: “I told my wife about it. She was angry but I kind of turned a blind eye. I’m an SNP supporter so sit was difficult for me to admit that this was bad.”

He added: “I often felt ‘I’d better say hello back’. If he wasn’t a senior politician I would have blocked him on Facebook.”

Mr Mackay, a father-of-two who came out as gay in 2013, quit as finance secretary hours before he was due to deliver the budget on Thursday after the Scottish Sun reported he sent 270 messages to a 16-year-old boy he befriended on social media.

The newspaper alleges he contacted the teenager over a six-month period and offered to take him to a rugby game and out to dinner.

In one message, he is alleged to have asked the boy: “And our chats are between us?”

When the youngster agreed, Mr Mackay told him: “Cool, then to be honest I think you are really cute.”

Mr Mackay accepted he had “behaved foolishly” as he apologised unreservedly to the teenager and his family.

An SNP spokesman said: “Derek Mackay has been suspended from both the parliamentary group and the party while further investigation takes place.

“In the interests of due process, no further comment will be made.”

The Independent has contacted Mr Mackay's office for comment.

Additional reporting by Press Association