Frankly, I am and I can only Personally horrified.. apologise for all this
How Scottish Government ignored the advice of country’s senior lawyer
Key evidence that destroyed the Scottish Government’s case against Alex Salmond was only disclosed after the Lord Advocate stepped in to demand all the emails held by the First Minister’s Permanent Secretary.
We can reveal that Scotland’s most senior lawyer Roddy Dunlop QC told a court he was “personally horrified” as the case crumbled and Lord Advocate James Wolffe ordered a trawl of civil servant Leslie Evans communications.
And our investigation discloses how the £ 512,000 legal bi l l for Nicola Sturgeon’s doomed battle with her former mentor over a sexual harassment probe clocked up – as Dunlop’s advice to abandon was ignored.
At a special hearing before Morag Ross QC in December 2018, documents show that Dunlop apologised profusely to the court and berated his own client, the Scottish Government, stating: “It is entirely regrettable and I can only apologise to the Commissioner and ultimately to the court for the piecemeal nature of what is happening.
“Frankly I am personally horrified of the way this is unfolding but I can only make available what is available.” He then told how Wol ffe had intervened to instruct a full search of emails held in the off ice of the
country’s most senior civil servant Evans.
He said: “It has become increasingly clear that there are a number of outliers in the sense, for example, a document might be in the hands of A but not of B but given that the email passes between A and B it should be in both of their possession. It is not clear why that is so.
“The result of that has been that the Lord Advocate has intervened and instructed a complete search be undertaken using a variety of search terms.”
It was only after this search that emails were finally handed to Dunlop that he bel ieved made the case “unstatable” in court.
They showed clear previous contact between women making sexual harassment al legations against Salmond and Judith Mackinnon, the official appointed to investigate it.
In explosive legal advice, Dunlop – the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates – furiously complained of his “extreme professional embarrassment” that assurances documents had been disclosed “turned out to be false”.
He also questioned the absence of any
minutes for a conference on November 13, 2018, attended by Sturgeon after concerns were expressed over the chances of success.
He added: “As to the late nature of the revelation, this is unexplained, and frankly inexplicable.”
Opposition politicians have reacted furiously to our revelations, calling the failure of government “catastrophic”.
Labour’s Jackie Baillie said: “This evidence demonstrates the extraordinary incompetence displayed by the Scottish Government in this most serious matter. That the Lord Advocate had to intervene to search the Permanent Secretary’s office emails beggars belief.
“It’s becoming all too clear that the Permanent Secretary catastrophically failed to conduct herself in the proper manner, and that her failures directly led to the women involved being cruelly let down and the taxpayer being landed with a bill of more than £500,000.
“The legal documents clearly show a distinct change in tone from counsel over the prospects of the judicial review as early as October, with the likelihood
of a successful resolution slipping fast away throughout November.
“That the Scottish Government persisted with the review until January 2019 is nothing short of scandalous and shows a complete disregard to the eye-watering bill that was accruing – a bill at the expense of the taxpayer.”
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross meanwhile called our revelations “shattering” and accused ministers of a “cover-up”. He said: “The government kept going and going with the case, against their own lawyers’ advice, running up an ever-increasing bill in the process. In any line of work, this is a sackable offence, and we will demand that the First Minister accepts her mistakes and goes.”
Both Salmond and Sturgeon have now given evidence to MSPs before a committee set up to investigate the
Scottish Government’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against the former SNP leader. Claims were made in January 2018 by two women, but Salmond had the findings of an investigation quashed in court in January 2019 after a judge found the procedure used against him to have been biased and illegal.
He was then charged by police with 14 offences, but cleared on all counts in the High Court. Sturgeon is now facing allegations she broke the ministerial code of conduct on multiple occasions over her handling of the affair.
The Salmond camp have claimed there was a plot against him involving senior figures including the First Minister’s husband Peter Murrell, who is the SNP’s CEO.
Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “To receive a ticking-off from your own counsel in such startling terms does not paint a picture of a government commi t ted to opennes s and transparency.”
The Scottish Government said: “Ministers were first advised the case
was unstatable fol lowing the Commission hearing of December 19-21. Any suggestion they had been advised of this before that date is factually inaccurate.
“Any accusation that the Permanent Secretary has withheld information at any stage in this process is categorically untrue.
“The Permanent Secretary sought and followed legal advice at all times throughout the judicial review, as she has explained in detail in both written and oral evidence to the commi t tee on several occasions.
“The Scottish Government has acknowledged that the process to identify and pass on relevant documents and information for the judicial review was not sufficiently robust.”
The Government kept going and going with the case against their own lawyers’ advice
Halina Watts and Russell Myers
The royal “bullying” saga took an astonishing twist yesterday as it emerged William’s wife Kate could be asked to dish the dirt on Harry’s wife Meghan.
Former aides are set to claim the Duchess of Cambridge witnessed Meghan’s “challenging behaviour”.
It was already revealed by several sources that Kate, 39, stood up for her own staff after they were berated.
But now she could be quizzed in a formal probe into alleged bullying by Duchess of Sussex Meghan.
And even Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, might be quizzed – making Palace officials “intensely nervous” about the possible fallout.
The developments came as the Palace – and the world – braced itself for the no-holds- barred interview Meghan and Harry gave to TV’s Oprah Winfrey.
The explosive two-hour chat goes out in the US tonight – 1am UK time – and is on ITV at 9pm tomorrow.
The Queen, as ever, has maintained dignity throughout – showing calm leadership despite the ongoing worry of husband Prince Philip being in hospital after a heart procedure.
Her Majesty ordered the investigation into Meghan’s alleged bullying.
Palace aides will consider testimony from more than 10 ex- staffers who reportedly accuse her of “emotional cruelty and manipulation”.
The double whammy of the bully probe and the Oprah interview has sent royal households into a spin.
In their interview, no subject is “off limits” as Meghan and Harry tell why they quit as working royals. Pregnant Meghan, 39, says she feels “liberated” to have stepped away.
She, Harry and toddler son Archie now live in the millionaires’ playground of Montecito, California. They have signed £100million- plus deals with giants like Netflix and Spotify.
The Palace is bracing itself for a raft of shocking allegations after Meghan accused the royals of “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and Harry, 36.
The duchess also discusses with
Winfrey – a near neighbour and guest at the royal wedding in 2018 – how the strain of living in the spotlight in Britain was “almost unsurvivable”.
It is also believed Meghan will con-firm rumours of a rift with Kate by suggesting she failed to support her.
Afghanistan war veteran Harry has told Oprah his “biggest concern was history repeating itself ” – referring to his mother Princess Diana, who felt hounded and isolated. She died in a Paris car crash in 1997, aged 36.
Gayle King, a TV host on US network CBS, described the royal interview as Oprah’s “best ever”. CBS reportedly paid Winfrey’s production company up to £7million. The chat host, 69, is worth an estimated £1.8billion, with stakes in cable channel OWN and Weight Watchers, for which she is brand ambassador. ITV reportedly paid £1million for secondary rights to the interview, being screened in 68 countries.
It comes as aides revealed last week Meghan faced a bullying complaint during her time at Kensington Palace.
The compl a int , by former communications secretary Jason Knauf in October 2018, claimed Meghan drove two personal assistants out of the household and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member. Two senior members of staff have claimed they were bullied when the Sussexes were sharing Kensington Palace staff with William and Kate.
Harry and Meghan later moved their offices to Buckingham Palace and relocated to Frogmore Cottage in the shadow of Windsor Castle.
Another former employee told a London newspaper they had been
“humiliated” by Meghan and claimed two members of staff had been bullied. Previously, a source told of Kate standing up to Meghan for publicly rebuking staff .
A former staffer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “That was just one of a catalogue of instances where Meghan spoke out of turn to staff in front of others.
“These aren’t isolated instances and plenty of people witnessed Meghan’s challenging behaviour.” In another incident, Kate was reportedly “left sobbing” by Meghan’s “outspoken demands” around the f itting of Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress.
Meghan denies bullying and the first she and Harry knew of the probe was in the press.
A source close to them said: “This is a whole tit-for-tat scenario. If this was a private company, we’ve effectively already been fired and I’m not entirely sure what any process could be.”
A spokesman for the couple has said they are victims of a “smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation”.
Harry and Meghan’s lawyers say allegations are part of a “wholly false narrative” from the Palace.
It is understood Meghan has long believed that courtiers and royals themselves had been briefing the press against her.
To fully examine bullying claims, Meghan would have to be part of the process but it is not clear what role, if any, she will play in proceedings.
The Palace said: “We are clearly very concerned about allegations following claims made by former staff of the Duke and Duchess.
“Accordingly, our HR team will look into the circumstances outlined in the article. The royal household will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace.”