Is he now plotting a sensational political comeback?
ALEX Salmond is now considering a return to frontline politics because he is furious about the way he has been treated, an ally has claimed.
The former SNP leader is said to believe he was the victim of a smear campaign that goes to the top of the party.
A close ally of Mr Salmond said: ‘Heads will roll – and some heads will roll so fast that they are in danger of going back in time. It goes right up to the top.’
The insider said that Nicola Sturgeon and her husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, had questions to answer about the way they have acted.
The source added: ‘A question to ponder is which of the complainants is going to crack first.’
They added: ‘He had no interest in coming back into politics, but all these acts and measures and how far it has gone could push him in that direction.’
Mr Salmond served two terms as SNP leader, from 1990 to 2000, then between 2004 and 2014, which included the period when the party won power, in 2007.
After handing over to Miss Sturgeon, he quit as an MSP in 2016, saying: ‘It is goodbye from me – for now.’
He was elected as MP for Gordon in 2015 but defeated in the 2017 general election, saying: ‘You’ve not seen the last of my bonnets and me.’
Yesterday, Mr Salmond failed to respond to enquiries about whether he will seek to return to the SNP.
Meanwhile, the Scottish parliament confirmed that the work of a special committee set up to investigate all aspects of the handling of complaints about Mr Salmond ‘will not begin immediately’ and ‘will review its position after Easter.’
Mr Salmond has threatened to publish evidence he had been barred from presenting in court.
He condemned ex-colleagues during secret court hearings, accusing them of plotting against him, while his lawyer, Gordon Jackson, QC, lobbied judge Lady Dorrian for permission to argue that Mr Salmond was the victim of a Scottish Government campaign.
Mr Salmond was arrested and charged just over a fortnight after he learned in January last year that he had won a judicial review against the Government over the way complaints were handled.
His defence team argued before the trial that this was the result of efforts by Miss Sturgeon’s inner circle to deflect public attention away from the outcome of the case.
In the hearings, Mr Jackson said Government Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans had texted a civil servant, saying: ‘We may have lost the battle – but we will win the war.’
Mr Jackson said a ‘huge amount of material’ had been obtained from the phone of an SNP official.
A minister, who cannot be named for legal reasons, texted the official, Susan Ruddick, to say they were ‘convening [their] Spads [special advisers] for a council of war’.
The minister also texted that ‘Salmond isn’t going to stop until he gets [a Government employee whom Mr Salmond feared was at the centre of the plot against him], and he’s bringing down Nicola Sturgeon on the way’.
Questions will also be raised over evidence from a woman who accused Mr Salmond of attempted rape. She said she contacted SNP compliance officer Ian McCann about the alleged incident in 2017.
His text said: ‘I’ll sit on that and hopefully never have to deploy it.’
‘You’ve not seen the last of me’