PARTY FACES SUSPENDING ITS BIGGEST BEAST
MSPs say SNP must withdraw Salmond’s membership
ALEX SALMOND faced calls for his suspension from the SNP last night – but yesterday insisted he should be allowed to retain his membership.
He said it was not up to him whether or not he should be suspended, but he believed no final decision should be made until the end of the Court of Session case.
Mr Salmond said: ‘My view on that – it’s not a matter for me – is that it’s now before the Court of Session; the judicial review will be a two or three-month process. I would advise everyone to suspend judgment – until the court can make a judgment.’
But Scottish Labour equalities spokesman Monica Lennon said: ‘Given the serious nature of these allegations, it would be appropriate that the SNP suspends Alex Salmond’s membership of the party with immediate effect.’
Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton said: ‘We do not yet know the substance of the allegations. All that can be said is that, in deeply sensitive cases like this, due and fair process should be followed.’
She added: ‘The question of Mr Salmond’s membership of the SNP is something his party leadership should consider seriously in light of the facts.’
The SNP is likely to come under growing pressure to suspend Mr Salmond following the case of shamed MSP Mark McDonald, who quit his ministerial job after a woman claimed she was ‘frightened’ by his behaviour.
Initially, Nicola Sturgeon backed the Aberdeen Donside MSP, even suggesting that he could one day return to a ministerial position.
But he was later suspended from the SNP and had the party whip withdrawn when ‘several’ fresh complaints were made.
Mr McDonald is the only MSP to be publicly named after a complaint. He was castigated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life for creating an ‘intimidating, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment’ with messages to a fellow MSP’s member of staff and is to be suspended from parliament for a month.
Asked if he sympathised with Mr McDonald – given his own experiences of the complaints system – Mr Salmond said he believed Mr McDonald had been subject to a different process.
Yesterday Miss Sturgeon said harassment complaints against Mr Salmond cannot be ‘swept under the carpet’. The SNP did not respond to requests for comment on whether or not Mr Salmond should be suspended.
The former SNP leader also gave an insight into the nature of the probe he has faced so far, and insisted he had co-operated with the Scottish Government’s investigation. He said he ‘did [his] absolute best throughout [the Government probe]’ despite the fact that ‘we made clear from start the problems with the procedures... [and] the lack of access to information...
‘I had to requisition my own diary a few weeks ago… through a subject access request [a legal mechanism allowing members of the public to access official information held about them]...
‘At every single stage we explained to the Scottish Government that we reserved our position, because we weren’t going to be able to present our case in a proper and effective manner.’
He said he had called for Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans to launch a mole hunt to identify who gave a briefing to a ‘single newspaper’ about allegations against him.
He added: ‘We believed we were engaged in a confidential process until 2.30 yesterday [Thursday] when the Scottish Government told us they intended to release a statement at 5pm.’
He said his plans for an interdict
‘Due and fair process should be followed’
for his judicial review against the Scottish Government to remain ‘confidential’ had been ‘stymied by a briefing to a single newspaper... by whom I don’t know’.
Mr Salmond said: ‘I’ve asked Leslie Evans to launch an inquiry to find out... That’s a serious breach of confidence.’
The SNP has been hit by a series of high-profile suspensions, including former MSP Bill Walker, who was kicked out of the party after being found guilty of 23 counts of domestic abuse in 2013.
Natalie McGarry, who faces embezzlement charges, was elected as Nationalist MP for Glasgow East in May 2015. In November 2015 she resigned the party whip and was automatically suspended from the party. She made no plea when she appeared in court earlier this year and was granted bail.
Other controversies include the case of former Nationalist MP Michelle Thomson, whose property deals were investigated by police. The controversy forced her to stand down as SNP business spokesman but the Crown Office later said she would not be prosecuted.