Salmond pushing toxic conspiracy theories, says first minister
Nicola Sturgeon accused Alex Salmond, her former political mentor, of peddling ‘‘dangerous conspiracy theories’’ about her government as a battle at the heart of the SNP grew increasingly toxic yesterday.
Salmond, her predecessor as party leader and first minister, was due to appear before a committee of MSPs yesterday, but withdrew after his written submissions were censored after an intervention by the Crown Office, the body responsible for prosecuting crime in Scotland.
He said that the move was ‘‘astonishing’’ and asked his lawyers to seek answers about the ‘‘unprecedented and highly irregular actions’’.
Asked at her daily coronavirus briefing if her government was engaged in a coverup, Sturgeon said: ‘‘Let’s all be careful here, let’s not sign up to false, damaging conspiracies that have no basis in fact, that start to unfairly undermine trust in our public institutions.
‘‘The idea that any decision of the Crown Office to uphold or enforce the law is politically driven or influenced is just downright wrong. Nobody who is responsible should be making that claim.’’
Sturgeon repeated her assertion that there was not ‘‘a shred of evidence’’ to support Salmond’s claim of a ‘‘malicious and concerted’’ attempt to see him removed from public life involving allegations of sexual harassment while he was first minister.
Last March, Salmond was acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault in a criminal trial, having previously been awarded a £512,250 (NZ$951,000) payout after he successfully challenged the lawfulness of a government investigation.
Sturgeon said that she was concerned for the women who had brought the charges, whose ‘‘voices have been silenced’’.
She said: ‘‘Alex Salmond is innocent of criminality but that doesn’t mean the behaviour they complained of didn’t happen and I think it is important that we don’t lose sight of that.’’
In his written evidence to the committee investigating the handling of the complaints against him, Salmond, who has always denied any wrongdoing, has already condemned Sturgeon and her entourage, naming ‘‘for the avoidance of doubt’’ her husband, Peter Murrell, chief executive of the SNP, and some of her closest political allies as the very people who had sought to bring him down.
In a written submission, Salmond addressed the ‘‘question of conspiracy’’.
He said: ‘‘I am very clear . . . that the evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort amongst a range of individuals within the Scottish government and the SNP to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned.’’
Salmond is expected to appear at the committee tomorrow after negotiations between his lawyers and the Scottish parliament.