Sturgeon’s bombshell letter on friendship breakdown with Alex Salmond
SNP leader denies conspiracy claims, admits ‘forgetting’ about meeting
NICOLA Sturgeon has denied claims she conspired against Alex Salmond over her Government’s sexual misconduct probe into the former first minister.
A bombshell letter by the SNP leader to a Holyrood committee describes the “breakdown” in her friendship with Salmond – and reveals they have not spoken for more than two years.
In the letter, the First Minister also claims to have “forgotten” about a meeting about claims against Salmond, which took place earlier than she initially told Parliament.
A Holyrood committee is investigating the Scottish Government’s botched handling of sexual misconduct complaints against Salmond when he was first minister.
Two complaints were investigated in 2018, but the probe was ruled to be unlawful and tainted by apparent bias.
A key part of the inquiry relates to what happened in meetings and calls between Salmond and Sturgeon in 2018 before the misconduct investigation began.
I agreed to meet a friend of 30 years when I was told he was in distress and wanted to talk to me about a serious matter. However, I did not seek to prevent or influence the proper consideration of the complaints
Her written statement to the Holyrood committee was finally published yesterday.
Sturgeon wrote: “Mr Salmond could be challenging to work for and, rightly, he demanded high standards. However, I was present on some occasions when tense situations had to be defused. Certain matters that I have become aware of through the events of the last couple of years raise – retrospectively – some other concerns.”
She also defended the Government for investigating the complaints against Salmond, writing: “The Scottish Government would have had nothing to ‘handle’ had complaints not been raised about Alex Salmond’s conduct. It was the concerns raised about his conduct – an aspect of which, by his own admission, he apologised for – that gave rise to this matter.”
She added: “As far as my personal involvement is concerned, over the last couple of years, I have faced accusations of ‘conspiring’ against Alex Salmond and also of ‘colluding’ with him. I reject in the strongest possible terms both of these suggestions.”
On her meetings with Salmond during the Government’s investigation, contact which she has been criticised for, she said: “I agreed to meet a friend of 30 years when I was told he was in distress and wanted to talk to me about a serious matter. And it is certainly the case that I was anxious to prepare my party as far as possible for an issue that, at different stages, I thought could be about to become public. However, I did not seek to prevent or influence the proper consideration of the complaints.”
She added: “My view throughout was that complaints must be properly and fairly considered, no matter who the subject of them might be, or how politically inconvenient the investigations may be.
“And that remains my view, even though the circumstances and consequences of this particular investigation have caused me – and others, in many cases to an even greater extent – a great deal of personal anguish, and resulted in the breakdown of a relationship that had been very important to me, politically and personally, for most of my life.”
Sturgeon wrote that Salmond had informed her about the complaints against him to the Government at a meeting at her home in April 2018.
She added that she had “forgotten” about an “encounter” with Salmond’s former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, days earlier in her Holyrood office.
On the Aberdein meeting, she wrote: “I think the meeting took place not long after the weekly session of FMQs and in the midst of a busy day in which I would have been dealing with a multitude of other matters.
“However, from what I recall, the discussion covered the fact that Alex Salmond wanted to see me urgently about a serious matter, and I think it did cover the suggestion that the
The consequences of this investigation have caused me anguish & the breakdown of a relationship that had been important for most of my life
matter might relate to allegations of a sexual nature.”
She also said she had been aware of a media inquiry from Sky News in early November 2017 about allegations in relation to Salmond.
On why she agreed to meet Salmond, she wrote: “The answer is both political and personal.
“I thought Mr Salmond may be about to resign from the SNP and that, as a result of this or other aspects of how he intended to handle the matter he was dealing with, the party could have been facing a public/media issue that we would require to respond to.”
On what happened at the meeting, she said: “I made clear to him that I had no role in the process and would not seek to intervene in it.
“He asked me if I would make the Permanent Secretary aware that I knew about the investigation and encourage her to accept his request for mediation. I said that I was not willing to do so.”
Sturgeon initially did not inform the Government’s top civil servant about the contact with Salmond, but said her judgment changed when she discovered he was considering legal action.
On the final meeting between Salmond and Sturgeon, which took place at her home in July 2018, she said: “He had formed a belief that it was me who was blocking arbitration. I told him I was not involved in the decision.”
She said Salmond sent her a final message in July 2018, adding: “I did not respond. I have had no contact with Mr Salmond since.”
Last night, opposition MSPs raised serious concerns over the First Minister’s letter.
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: “The First Minister’s evidence to this committee raises many questions and could be described as having as many holes as a Swiss cheese.
“Nicola Sturgeon’s evidence to the committee will be considered in due course, but what her evidence has exposed is the blurring of lines between the Scottish Government and the SNP, and the fact that they seem to live in each other’s pockets.”