Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth posed with a giant SNP logo on the campaign trail – the same afternoon she controversially failed to turn up for Holyrood questions.
The Nats minister was due to appear in parliament to be quizzed on issues including on school violence at the first education questions in five weeks on April 24.
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Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth campaigning in Fife on April 24.
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Scottish Labour MSP Neil Bibby has criticised Ms Gilruth over her failure to attend.Credit: Getty
But, social media snaps on her Facebook page show her out door-knocking for the SNP in the Glenrothes Central and Thornton by-election that afternoon.
It came on the same day that a 12-year-old girl was rushed to hospital after an alleged stabbing at a school in Aberdeen.
A Scottish Government spokesperson had said “diary commitments” were the reason that Ms Gilruth was unable to attend the parliament.
As she exited the Holyrood chamber following FMQs, our reporter quizzed her on the issue, asking: “Why did you not appear last week in parliament for education questions?”
But, Ms Gilruth expressed surprise, asking: “Education questions?”
Our reporter then pressed: “Were you campaigning for the SNP?”
A defiant Ms Gilruth responded: “I was undertaking government business and I was also in my constituency.”
The Education Secretary then ignored The Scottish Sun when our reporter asked whether it was “only government business” that she was involved in.
When quizzed by another journalist on the issue, she said: “I was undertaking government business and I was undertaking a range of different democratic responsibilities in my local constituency, as I think you can see on my social media.”
Despite being asked to clarify whether she was campaigning for the SNP as part of a by-election, Ms Gilruth ignored the question and entered a lift taking her to Holyrood’s ministerial offices.
Scottish Labour MSP Neil Bibby said: “These are evasive excuses for skipping her responsibilities to parliament.
“As Education Secretary, she should be setting a better example to Scotland’s young people.
“We teach our school children to admit they were wrong and apologise if they get caught out.
“Jenny Gilruth should follow that lesson and come clean by publishing her diary.”
And Scottish Tory shadow minister for children and young people Roz McCall weighed in: “Jenny Gilruth clearly knows she has been caught red-handed and her shameless attempts to spin her way out of this simply won’t wash.
“Given all the challenges facing Scotland’s education system after 18 years of SNP failure it is appalling she put her party above doing her job in Parliament.
“That is all too typical of nationalist ministers who are always looking for ways to avoid being held to account.”