Finance Secretary
Derek Mackay, 42, pestered the lad, 16, in private on Instagram and Facebook over six months after contacting him out of the blue.
The boy’s furious mum called for Nicola Sturgeon to sack the cabinet minister, while a
leading abuse expert said police should investigate.
The mother said: “A man like that is not supposed to say these sort of things to a boy.”
The boy’s mum accused Mr Mackay of targeting her son after it emerged the Holyrood chief sent him the messages despite knowing he was 16.
The Finance Secretary asked the fresh-faced teenager to dinner and offered to make him his guest at a parly rugby event after befriending him out of the blue on Facebook and Instagram.
The openly-gay dad of two — who came out in 2013 when leaving his wife — liked snaps of the rugger-mad youngster in his sports gear and even pinged direct messages to him on Christmas Day.
In a number of exchanges
it is clear the boy is choosing not to reply — while Mr Mackay repeatedly instigates online communication with him.
Many of the messages were sent on or around days when Mr Mackay was on official business — including an event at the controversial Ferguson shipyard on the Clyde and an anti-Brexit campaign.
Some of the messages have been redacted to protect the child’s anonymity.
The schoolboy and his mum agreed to reveal the messages as
they believe Mr Mackay has abused his position.
When asked what action she believes should be taken against Mr Mackay, the mum added: “Nicola Sturgeon should remove him from his position.
“I don’t know if he should lose his job but he should be dealt with very seriously. I hope he can take lessons from this situation and something must happen that forces him to think about what he’s done.”
The boy said: “He should be made to apologise, not just to me but to everyone else who has been let down by this. I think he should be sacked to be honest.”
The Scottish Government declined to comment.
