Sturgeon inquiry ‘should include claims she misled Holyrood’

An inquiry into whether Nicola Sturgeon has broken ministerial rules should be widened to investigate claims she misled Holyrood over meetings concerning Alex Salmond, MSPs have said.

The call has been made by two members of the Ho l y r o o d committee looking into the Scottish Government’s botched handling of harassment complaints made against Alex Salmond.

Their plea is in response to evidence submitted to the committee by Ms Sturgeon last week, which raised more questions about when exactly she learned the S c o tt i s h Government was examining allegations against her predecessor.

In addition to Ho l y r o o d ’ s Salmond inquir y, Ms Sturgeon triggered a second investigation by referring herself to the panel that examines whether politicians have breached the ministerial code, the standards governing the behaviour of those in government.

The ministerial code inquiry is being conducted by Ja m e s Ha m i l t o n , formerly Ir e l a n d ’s Director of Public Prosecutions.

Ms Sturgeon referred herself to his standards panel in January last year after it was claimed she had broken the code by failing to declare meetings she held with Mr Salmond to discuss the claims against him swiftly enough.

The first minister referred herself af ter informing MSPs at Holyrood she had three meetings and two phone calls with Mr Salmond.

Ms Sturgeon said she learned of the allegations against Mr Salmond when they met for the first time at her Glasgow home on April 2 2018. But she did not tell Pe r m a n e n t Secretary Leslie Evans of their meeting months later.

Since then, however, details of another meeting between Ms Sturgeon and Mr Salmond’s former chief-of-staff, Geoff Aberdein, have emerged.

The meeting on March 29 2018 was not mentioned by Ms Sturgeon when she told MSPs last year of her meetings with Mr Salmond.

In evidence submitted to the Holyrood Salmond inquiry last week, Ms Sturgeon claimed the Aberdein meeting had slipped her mind. But, in retrospect, she thought it had included discussions of a sexual nature.

Ms Sturgeon ’s submission led to Alex Cole-Hamilton, a member of the Salmond inquiry committee, calling for the broadening of Mr Hamilton’s investigation.

Mr Cole-Hamilton was supported by fellow Salmond committee member Jackie Baillie. until two