Birth and education

Michael Stephen Matheson was born on 8 September 1970 in Glasgow.^[2] He was raised in the Toryglen district and educated at John Bosco Secondary School in the city. He then attended Queen Margaret University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in occupational therapy in 1991. He later went on to graduate from The Open University with both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Postgraduate diploma in applied social sciences.^[3] Following graduation, he worked as a community occupational therapist for eight years, until his election to the Scottish Parliament.

Early political career

Matheson worked for Highland Regional Council, Central Regional Council and Stirling Council. He first stood as a parliamentary candidate for the SNP in the 1997 general election, standing for the newly created Hamilton North and Bellshill constituency.

Election to Holyrood

In the 1999 Scottish parliamentary election, Matheson contested the Falkirk West constituency, which was won by the independent Dennis Canavan, who had been rejected by the Labour Party.^[4] However, Matheson was ranked third on the SNP's regional list for Central Scotland and was one of the five SNP candidates elected in the region.

SNP in opposition: 1999–2007

He served as Shadow Deputy Minister for Justice from May 1999 until September 2004, and as Shadow Deputy Minister for Rural Development from October 2001 until September 2004. Matheson also served on the Equal Opportunities Committee, the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, and the Justice 1 Committee between 1999 and 2004.^[5] During the 2000 SNP deputy leadership election, he was the campaign manager for Roseanna Cunningham.

He contested the Falkirk West constituency again at the 2003 Scottish parliamentary election, and although it was won again by Denis Canavan, Matheson was re-elected as one of three SNP MSPs for Central Scotland. In the parliament's second session he served on the Justice 1 Committee, the Enterprise and Culture Committee and the Justice 2 Committee. From September 2004 until September 2006, he was Shadow Minister for Culture and Sport.^[6]

Backbencher: 2007–2011

Matheson won the constituency in the 2007 election with a majority of 776 votes over Labour, after Canavan stepped down.^[4] (Canavan later endorsed Matheson for re-election in 2011).^[4] Matheson was a member of the Health and Sport Committee from June 2007 until March 2011 and was the Deputy Convener of the European and External Relations Committee from March 2009 until July 2010.^[7] He was also a member of the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee.^[7]

Before becoming a Minister, Matheson was actively involved in a number of Parliamentary Cross-Party Groups, including those on Malawi, Sport, Alzheimer's disease, International development, Russia and Taiwan.

At the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election, he retained his seat with an increased majority of 5,745 votes over Labour.

Salmond Administration: 2011–2014

He was appointed as Minister for Public Health after the SNP landslide in 2011, a position he held until the November 2014 reshuffle which saw him promoted to cabinet rank as Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

Justice Secretary: 2014–2018

Following the appointment of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister of Scotland, she appointed Matheson as the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on 21 November 2014. In Sturgeon's 2016 cabinet reshuffle, he remained in the post of Justice Secretary. Matheson was supported by the Minister for Community Safety, Paul Wheelhouse, and later, Annabelle Ewing.

Transport Secretary: 2018–2023

In a cabinet reshuffle in 2018, he was shifted to Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity. In 2021, his portfolio changed, with infrastructure and connectivity being replaced with net zero and energy, becoming Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport.

Health Secretary: 2023-present

Matheson endorsed Humza Yousaf in the 2023 Scottish National Party leadership election.^[18] Following Yousaf's election as party leader and appointment as First Minister, Matheson was appointed Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care in his government.

In November 2023, Matheson was revealed to have incurred £10,935 in roaming charges after taking a Parliamentary iPad on a family holiday to Morocco. Matheson claimed that he incurred the charges while completing constituency work, and that he had not been aware that he needed to replace the SIM card in the iPad to switch over to the Scottish Parliament's current mobile contract. Matheson attempted to claim £3,000 of the bill from his expenses budget, with the Scottish Parliament paying the remainder out of its own budget.^[19] First Minister Humza Yousaf described this as a "legitimate parliamentary expense".^[20] Matheson's bill was described as being more than the total of all MSPs' mobile phone, business line, tablet and staff phone bill expenses claimed in 2022/23 combined: the total for all phone-related expenses in that year was £9,507.^[21]

It was subsequently revealed that Matheson had been emailed by Parliamentary officials in the February of 2022, warning him of the need to update the SIM cards in his devices almost a year in advance of his holiday. Following this, Matheson agreed to personally pay back the full cost of the data roaming bill.^[21] On 16 November, Matheson admitted to the Scottish Parliament that the charges had been incurred owing to his sons using the iPad to watch football matches, and that he would refer himself to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body for investigation, but would not stand down as health secretary.^[22] On 19 November, Humza Yousaf re-iterated his confidence in Matheson, describing him as a man of integrity and honesty, and insisted that he had not been misled by the health secretary over the bill.^[23]