There was no plot against Salmond – Sturgeon
First Minister fights back tears in eight-hour inquiry appearance
NICOLA STURGEON choked back tears and insisted “I would never have wanted to ‘get’ Alex Salmond” as she rejected as absurd his claims of a plot among senior SNP figures to destroy him.
Scotland’s First Minister yesterday told a Holyrood inquiry the “simple” truth was that several women had made complaints about Mr Salmond and “I refused to follow the usual pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and connections to get what he wants”.
In an appearance over eight hours, Ms Sturgeon insisted she had seen “nothing that comes within a million miles” of supporting Mr Salmond’s claims of a conspiracy.
Although she reiterated it was “beyond question” that Mr Salmond had been cleared of all criminal charges, she said his behaviour was still “deeply inappropriate” and “there was not a single word of regret” from him during his six hours of testimony last Friday.
Ms Sturgeon appeared on the verge of tears as she was invited to apologise to the Scottish people for arguing for years that they could trust Mr Salmond to take them to independence. Murdo Fraser, a Conservative MSP, pressed her on when she had decided that he “was in fact a liar and a fantasist?”
Admitting that she had had to “rethink certain things” about him, Ms Sturgeon said: “As I was watching him on Friday lashing out against us, I don’t know whether he ever reflects on the fact many of us, including me, feel very let down by him. That’s a matter of personal pain and regret for me.”
She faced a litany of allegations that she had broken the ministerial code after two key witnesses corroborated Mr Salmond’s version of events.
Ms Sturgeon said that people would struggle to understand parts of her account, including forgetting a meeting on March 29, 2018 at which she was informed about sexual misconduct claims against him.
As she gave evidence yesterday, Mr Salmond announced that he had lodged a formal complaint about a Scottish Government official who allegedly leaked the name of a woman who made allegations against him.
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: “The abiding memory of this evidence session will be Nicola Sturgeon proclaiming ‘I can’t recall’ on repeat.
“It’s not remotely credible, in fact it’s plainly absurd, for the First Minister to ask us to believe her account of a secret meeting that she claims
to have forgotten entirely, instead of the evidence of multiple credible witnesses.”
In her opening statement, Ms Sturgeon admitted her government made a “very serious mistake” when investigating sexual misconduct complaints against her predecessor and mentor, and apologised to two female civil servants who lodged complaints.
She said she wanted to “rebut the absurd suggestion that anyone acted with malice” and claimed her government had “tried to do the right thing”.
Social media messages have emerged from Peter Murrell, her husband and the SNP’s chief executive, in which he said it was a “good time to be
pressurising” police to investigate Mr Salmond.
She insisted this had been taken out of context and the full message gave a “very, very different impression”.
Mr Salmond won a judicial
review in 2019 when Scotland’s highest civil court found that the way the Scottish government investigated sexual misconduct allegations against him was unlawful.
The SNP administration he once led paid him £512,250 of taxpayers’ money to cover
his legal costs after the judge ruled the inquiry was “procedurally unfair” and “tainted with apparent bias”. The committee’s inquiry into the debacle started after Mr Salmond was acquitted of sexual assault charges last year.
Ms Sturgeon denied yesterday that one of her officials had named a complainant in a meeting with Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond’s chief of staff, in Mar 2018. But Mr Aberdein’s claim has been corroborated by Kevin Pringle, the SNP’s former chief spin doctor, and Duncan Hamilton, an ex-MSP.
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said: “The First Minister today dismantled all of the claims which have been made against her.” (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)