FORMER SNP MP Mhairi Black has revealed for the first time she has been diagnosed with ADHD.
During an appearance at her sold-out Edinburgh Festival Fringe show – Politics Isn’t For Me – the former SNP deputy Westminster leader confirmed she was diagnosed in 2018.
She mentioned the ADHD in the context of rumours circulating on social media that she was a cocaine user.
Black joked: “If I was doing cocaine, the worst that would happen is I’d function a bit better.”
However, she added: “But I don’t need to because I get prescribed Ritalin. I get prescribed literal speed.”
Elsewhere in the show, Black also joked about the Serjeant at Arms – who is responsible for keeping order within the Commons – describing him as the “c*** with a sword”.
Feud with Labour
The former MP also discussed a feud with Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, accusing him of bullying her despite knowing she had health issues.
It’s a row which dates back to October 2017, when an article in The Times pointed out Black had voted in one-fifth of divisions since June of that year.
Black had written a column for the Daily Record where she accused Labour of being the “architects of austerity” and claimed they were “happy to stand alongside the Tories”.
Murray (above) raised her voting record during a vote in 2018 when the SNP abstained on the third reading of a Tory budget.
He said: “Did you vote against the Tory budget last night @MhairiBlack? To make it easy for you the answer is no you didn’t.
“Maybe you should turn up a bit more often. Worst attendance and voting record in Parliament.”
Black replied by linking to an article she had written outlining the health issues she had suffered from including stomach problems and norovirus.
Murray responded to Black and said: “I’m genuinely sorry you’ve been ill but I was referring to your Daily Record article where you accuse Labour of backing the Tories when the SNP didn’t vote against the Tory budget the very same day of the article [sic].
“You and your colleagues voted on amendments less than an hour before.”
Black told the audience at the Gilded Balloon, her doctor at the time had told her she needed to “get away from that environment, take a good bit of time to heal” and they could then “start building different boundaries and strategies that will help me cope".
“I went away and took my time off, but I couldn't actually relax, because very quickly I started getting pelters off of folk.
"I can expect it off Twitter and all the rest of it, but there were actual politicians who were just putting the boot in to me. Saying 'Ah, she's lazy. Look at her voting record. That's terrible. She's no representing her constituency right; there should be a recall.'
"It just kept going and going. In particular, our current Scottish Secretary, Ian Murray, him and (now Labour MSP) Paul Sweeney were two of the main ones who, even though I had been to them and their whips had spoken to them and explained that I was actually off ill, Murray didn't mind, they carried on just putting the boot in anyway.
“And it started basically giving permission for this narrative that I'm lazy, that I'm not up to the job and all the rest."
She added: “And the truth is, I've no get anything funny to say about this, right? It was s***.
"It was really horrible to experience, and it's bad enough when you're off with poor health, but then when somebody's just rubbing salt in the wound, it makes it so much more difficult for you to be able to heal and heal in a timely fashion.”
The National has approached Murray and Sweeney for comment.
