By Rachel Amery

Copyright scotsman

An SNP MP says it was “right” for Jamie Hepburn to resign as a government minister over his “bad behaviour”. Mr Hepburn stepped down from his role as parliamentary business minister on Friday after being accused of physically assaulting former Scottish Tories leader Douglas Ross at Holyrood. In his resignation letter, the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth MSP admitted his behaviour had fallen “well short” of the standard expected. Mr Hepburn admitted to using “choice words” and putting his hands on Mr Ross as the pair left the debating chamber on Wednesday. Stephen Gethins, the SNP MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, said Mr Hepburn’s decision was the “right thing” to do. He said all politicians needed to look at “how to disagree more agreeably”. Speaking to the BBC’s The Sunday Show, Mr Gethins said: “Obviously I was not in the chamber and the CCTV cameras didn’t capture this, but Jamie felt his position was untenable and felt he wanted to move on. Get daily political analysis – subscribe for free to The Steamie “It is a Sunday morning when we are all thinking about human frailty. There will be people off to church thinking about this very thing, and Jamie has thought about it and done the right thing. “There were great passions in the chamber given the subject matter and passions ran out of control, it would appear.” Mr Gethins added: “It looks like there was bad behaviour and Jamie has conceded that. In public discourse we all need to look at how to disagree more agreeably.” Since revealing the incident, Mr Ross has asked First Minister John Swinney to refer the matter to independent advisors on the ministerial code and said he may contact parliamentary police.