Scotland’s First Minister has spoken of the “balance” he found in taking his son to hockey training the night before his first budget in charge.
John Swinney took over the top job unexpectedly earlier this year after the resignation of Humza Yousaf, which capped off a calamitous 12 months for the SNP.
Mr Swinney returned after a year-long “sabbatical” – as he describes it – following his nine-year tenure as deputy first minister to Nicola Sturgeon.
For me to get home and take him to hockey, I came back into work on Wednesday morning for budget day feeling as if I had got the balance right
In the early weeks of his tenure the First Minister stressed the importance of finding time to spend with his teenage son and wife Elizabeth.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Swinney said it had been “challenging” to maintain some semblance of a home life while also being the country’s top politician, particularly recently, with the Scottish Government publishing his first budget since taking the top job.
“I’ve had a very demanding week – I have a demanding week every week, but this is a particularly demanding week,” he said.
“So I stood to be away from home for a very protracted amount of time, but I managed to get home on Tuesday and then the minute I got home, I took Matthew to his hockey practice.”
He added: “For me to get home and take him to hockey, I came back into work on Wednesday morning for budget day feeling as if I had got the balance right and the balance was taking my son to hockey – so that made me feel very at ease.”
His ascension to the top job has also seen his family caught in the middle of tense political moments.
He spoke a week after the First Minister was subjected to abuse from the crowd at the memorial service for Alex Salmond at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh as he arrived with his wife.
Some in the waiting crowd booed the First Minister, with shouts of “traitor” also aimed at him as he helped Elizabeth – who has mobility issues caused by multiple sclerosis – into the venue.
Mr Swinney – ever reticent to be too open about his personal life – said: “I don’t think that kind of behaviours really is for that occasion, but it’s water off a duck’s back for me.”
Asked how his wife – an accomplished former BBC political journalist – had handled it, Mr Swinney said: “As an experienced, formidable political journalist who I’m very pleased is no longer asking me questions on camera, my wife’s well versed in politics.”
