At last, SNP reveals details of contacts with data row firm
Emails show Sturgeon kept in dark after meeting
THE SNP was ‘still interested’ in working with Cambridge Analytica more than six weeks after meeting the controversial firm, emails revealed last night.
Nicola Sturgeon has claimed that a consultant acting for her party held only one meeting with the company before concluding they were ‘a bunch of cowboys’.
But emails published by the SNP reveal that senior figures continued to communicate with Cambridge Analytica for several weeks – without the First Minister’s knowledge.
Correspondence between the party and the firm was published online as SNP chiefs – including Miss Sturgeon’s husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – came under growing pressure to answer questions over links with the company.
The emails reveal the SNP initiated contact with Cambridge Analytica and
‘Their hypocrisy has become apparent’
documents show party officials agreed to further meetings after the initial talks in February 2016.
A Scottish Tory spokesman said: ‘When Cambridge Analytica’s affairs were first exposed, the SNP were the first to start throwing around accusations about other parties. But the more we’ve learned of their own involvement with the company, the more their hypocrisy has become apparent.’
The first email was sent by Chris Jones, SNP head of information services, on February 7. In it, he said he was ‘keen to chat’ with Cambridge Analytica. This led to a conference call a day later between the firm, Mr Jones and former SNP digital campaign strategist Kirk Torrance.
A meeting was arranged in London for February 18, which was attended only by Mr Torrance. Mr Jones and party solicitor Scott Martin had also been set to meet Cambridge Analytica but it is unclear why they did not attend.
This was followed up with a series of emails from Livia Krisandova, project manager at Cambridge Analytica.
One, dated March 31, 2016, referred to a phone conversation the day before in which the pair discussed ‘potential co-operation in summer’. Miss Krisandova said ‘it was my pleasure to hear that you are still interested in working with’ Cambridge Analytica, adding they had ‘agreed to reconnect in May and again in June’.
Publishing the emails on Twitter last night, the SNP claimed they proved the party had attempted to distance itself from the firm. On Twitter, the party said: ‘We didn’t want to tell them what we really thought, so we let them down gently – by ignoring their emails. But they kept emailing and calling – we still didn’t reply and they wouldn’t take the hint.’
However, an email sent by Miss Krisandova on May 26 states ‘we are looking forward to reconnecting with you this summer’ and adds: ‘I want to touch base with you on the basis of our previous communication’.
In a tweet, Cambridge Analytica said: ‘We’re pleased that @theSNP has now acknowledged that it was Cambridge Analytica who were telling the truth. We didn’t publicly release our email correspondence with them because we take data protection seriously.’