{"id":694768,"date":"2026-01-14T06:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/694768\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T06:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:05:11","slug":"furious-police-blast-waste-of-time-after-cops-dragged-into-holyrood-to-search-for-michael-mathesons-missing-mug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/694768\/","title":{"rendered":"Furious police blast &#8216;waste of time&#8217; after cops dragged into Holyrood to search for Michael Matheson&#8217;s missing MUG"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A COPS union chief last night hit out over officers being called in to hunt for disgraced\u00a0Nat Michael Matheson\u2019s mug.<\/p>\n<p>David Kennedy, of the Scottish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/police\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Police<\/a> Federation, insisted the case was a waste of police time.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Politics newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Cops were called to Holyrood after Michael Matheson\u2019s mug went missingCredit: PA<\/p>\n<p>It came as The Scottish Sun sent our own \u2018robber\u2019 to Holyrood to deliver a replacement cup to the ex-Health Secretary. <\/p>\n<p>But he was nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>The Scottish Sun sent our own \u2018robber\u2019 to Holyrood to deliver a new mug to MathesonCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd.<\/p>\n<p>We revealed yesterday how \u201cmiffed\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/cops\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cops<\/a> were dragged into Holyrood to investigate the disappearance.<\/p>\n<p>A report was made to security before police were called in.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"article-readmore__text-anchor-wrap\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/news\/12778602\/police-scotland-new-complaint-michael-matheson-ipad-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"240\" width=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/crop-12761346.jpg\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-kicker\">SCANDAL LATEST<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-headline\">Police give major update on probe into Michael Matheson&#8217;s \u00a311k iPad bill<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"article-readmore__text-anchor-wrap\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/news\/14498761\/michael-matheson-snp-msp-health-secretary-quit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"240\" width=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MixCollage-16-Mar-2025-08-47-PM-486.jpg\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-kicker\">SECOND THOUGHTS<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-headline\">Michael Matheson makes election U-turn as shamed ex-health sec to step down<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mr Kennedy, the federation\u2019s general secretary, said: \u201cIt is\u00a0astonishing that anyone would contemplate deploying\u00a0 officers to search for a missing mug.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen policing is under immense pressure after years of underfunding and rising demand, this sort of request highlights an\u00a0entitlement and disconnect from reality that\u2019s hard to\u00a0 comprehend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cOfficers should be focused on keeping our communities safe \u2014 not chasing down missing crockery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cup vanished from Mr Matheson\u2019s\u00a0parly office last month. <\/p>\n<p>He quit the SNP Cabinet two years ago after initially claiming expenses for an \u00a311,000 data roaming bill run up on his work <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/ipad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iPad<\/a> on a holiday to Morocco.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He later blamed his sons for\u00a0streaming footie. <\/p>\n<p>Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said cops deserved an apology, adding: \u201cThey want to be out catching criminals, not responding to Michael Matheson panicking over how he\u2019s going to get his next cup of coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/scottish-labour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scottish Labour<\/a> No2 Jackie Baillie also\u00a0slammed the \u201cwasting\u201d of police time.<\/p>\n<p>An SNP spokesman said Mr Matheson didn\u2019t report \u201cany personal items as missing and no report was\u00a0made on his behalf to Parliament or police\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Insiders had previously claimed the lone cup vanished from Mr Matheson\u2019s Holyrood office last month.<\/p>\n<p>An initial report was made to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">security<\/a>\u00a0staff before police were asked to get involved.<\/p>\n<p>Officers then carried out inquiries but issued \u201csuitable advice\u201d after establishing \u201cno criminality\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Nats claimed the alarm had been raised because multiple items had gone\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/missing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">missing<\/a>\u00a0from offices over several months.<\/p>\n<p>They also insisted the mug was not Mr Matheson\u2019s \u201cproperty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But force sources confirmed that officers were told\u00a0the missing\u00a0cup belonged to him.<\/p>\n<p>An insider revealed: \u201cIt appears Mr Matheson or his office were so alarmed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/the-missing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the missing<\/a> mug that they called in parliament security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat in itself would appear to be an over-reaction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut then someone has taken the decision to involve the police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say the officers called in were more than a little miffed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David Kennedy of the Scottish Police Federation has hit out\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A COPS union chief last night hit out over officers being called in to hunt for disgraced\u00a0Nat Michael&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,527,188,1102,4884,529,530,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-694768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-conservative-party","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-edinburgh","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-police","14":"tag-police-scotland","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115891950584839500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}