Top civil servant denies being at war with Salmond

Scotland’ s most senior civil servant denied being “at war” with former first minister Alex S almond as she insisted a text message from her was “misinterpreted”.

Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans sent a message after the Scottish Government lost a legal challenge brought by the former first minister over its handling of harassment allegation.

It read: “We may have lost the battle but we will win the war.” But the mandarin insisted that the text had been taken out of context.

She told MSPS: “I think that has been misinterpreted as having some kind of conspiratorial element to it. That is not the case.

“I was not referring to any individual when I sent that text, I was talking about a long-term commitment of mine and indeed of the Scottish Government to ensure quality lies at the heart of what it does.”

Tory MS PM ur do Fr ase rt hen asked :“So you weren’t at war with Alex Salmond?”

The Permanent Sec retary told him: “No.”

Ms Evans was pressed about the message when she appeared before the Holy rood committee investigating the Scottish Government’ s handling of complaints against the former first minister.

She also told MSPS on the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints that“around ”10 people had raised concerns about their“treatment” in the Scottish Government.

Ms Evans, g iv in gevidence under oath to the committee for a second time.