The right-hand man of the SNP ’s new leader at Westminster travelled across two council areas and flew to Northern Ireland at the height of the Covid pandemic, it has emerged.
Coatbridge MP Steven Bonnar – parliamentary private secretary to Stephen Flynn – went on a four-day trip to Belfast days after Nicola Sturgeon increased restrictions amid fears that the virus was getting out of control.
Shamed sex pest MP Patrick Grady, the party’s chief whip at the time, was aware of the plans despite knowing the advice given by the First Minister was to stay at home.
In a message sent to Grady, Bonnar set out details of the November 22, 2020, journey and wrote: “Other than my office, my nearest and dearest and you in your role as chief whip, nobody else is aware of my trip.”
The email, passed to the Sunday Mail, shows that Bonnar claimed he was obeying the rules as he was attending a friend’s wedding, which was included in the list of exemptions.
However, he also told Grady he would be attending a wedding reception, which was banned at the time in both Northern
Ireland and Scotland.
Bonnar said he would be collected from Belfast Airport by the groom on November 22 and would travel to a residential address in County Down.
He told Grady he would be going to the wedding on November 23 and be travelling back to his accommodation “at end of the wedding reception”.
Bonnar claimed he would not be leaving his accommodation until November 25, to catch the boat from Belfast to Cairnryan.
Two days before Bonnar made the trip, Sturgeon moved 11 local authorities into Level 4 restrictions, closing shops and banning people from socialising indoors. Those areas included North Lanarkshire, where Bonnar lived, and Glasgow, where he travelled from.
Sturgeon said: “Travel anywhere right now carries with it potential risk – whether it’s the risk of importing the virus or allowing it to spread from high prevalence areas here at home.
“You should definitely not visit other people’s homes. You can still meet outdoors, in groups of up to six from two households, but the advice to people in Level 4 areas is to stay at home, or close to home, as much as possible.”
She added there should be “no non-essential travel between Scotland and other parts of the UK, or Ireland.” Furious opposition politicians have demanded Bonnar resign or face suspension from the SNP.
But when challenged by the Sunday Mail, Bonnar claimed he did not believe he had flouted the rules or guidelines.
He said: “I think weddings were deemed ‘essential travel’. I believe I was in compliance with all the rules and regulations at the time.
“The wedding was heavily restricted – only 25 people were there. There was no dancing, no music. I was best man at the
wedding, so had an official role.
“I am entirely comfortable that I remained within all of the guidelines at that time.”
Asked why he told Grady that “nobody else is aware of my trip”, Bonnar said: “It was obviously a very difficult time for everybody and I understood that people were making huge sacrifices. However, on [sic] my personal opinion… I don’t have any brothers or sisters and the person who was getting married is the godfather to my own child.
“I have a strong family connection in Ireland and deemed that important enough for me to make the trip within the requirements.
“I was entirely comfortable with the decision I took and remain so. I would make the same decision again.”
Shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray said Bonnar should be sacked and urged Flynn to take action. He said: “While Scots observed the rules and made sacrifices beyond imagining, Steve Bonnar decided he was better than them. He has treated the public with contempt and must go.”
Scottish Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said: “The SNP needs to tell us exactly what went on – whether Bonnar broke guidelines and if his former and now disgraced chief whip sanctioned any breach.”
The Scottish Tories’ chair Craig Hoy said Bonnar should be suspended from the SNP while the party investigates, and said his actions were “disrespectful” to his constituents.
He added: “It’s disgraceful that Steven Bonnar appears to have broken lockdown rules in full awareness of what he was doing and with the knowledge of his then chief whip Patrick Grady.”
An SNP spokesman said: “Steven attended this wedding as the best man of a family member. His activity was fully within the rules and guidelines set out, which provided an exemption for people travelling to weddings within the common travel area. The wedding also fully complied with all rules and guidance.”
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