GANG OF 4 MUST GO

Ex-FM calls on Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and her inner circle to quit over ‘malicious scheme’ aimed at getting him imprisoned

ALEX Salmond called on Nicola Sturgeon’s husband to resign yesterday as he turned his fire on the First Minister’s inner circle in a dramatic showdown at Holyrood.

The former SNP leader said Peter Murrell, the Nats’ chief executive, should quit over the role he played in a “malicious scheme” against him.

Salmond also called for the Lord Advocate – Scotland’s top prosecutor James Wolffe – and civil service chief, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, to resign.

Nicola Sturgeon’s chief of staff Liz Lloyd should also quit, said Salmond.

But the former first minister stopped short of calling for Sturgeon to quit – despite claiming there was “no doubt” she had broken rules governing the behaviour of ministers.

Salmond made the claims during a six-hour grilling at the Holyrood probe into the Scottish Government’s unlawful investigation of sexual harassment claims against him.

A committee of MSPs was asked to review the debacle after judges ruled in 2019 that the Government’s handling of complaints against Salmond was “tainted by apparent bias” – after it emerged the investigating officer had prior contact with two of the women who made complaints.

In one of the most eagerly anticipated meetings of the devolution era, the former first minister alleged a “malicious scheme” among senior SNP figures to damage his reputation – but said he had no evidence Sturgeon was part of this.

Salmond contradicted evidence from the First Minister over key meetings on the complaints against him, and added: “I have no doubt that Nicola broke the ministerial code, but it’s not for me to suggest what the consequence should be.”

He said he didn’t believe she was involved in covering up complaints against him, but criticised her for using a press conference last week to “effectively question the result of a jury”.

He declined to directly apologise for his own behaviour when questioned.

Salmond was also asked by a Labour committee member if he’d “forgiven” Sturgeon for her government’s handling of the issue.

Jackie Baillie said: “Mr Salmond has been very, very careful not to call for Nicola Sturgeon to resign. Does that mean you have forgiven her for her handling of this?”

He responded: “It means the people I have named, and the evidence I have put forward, I believe there is documentary evidence for the reasons that they should consider their positions.

“I don’t think it is for me to judge what happens to someone who may have broken the ministerial code.”

Asked what the motivation would be for a plot against him, Salmond said some in the Scottish Government saw the judicial review case as a “huge, looming, enormous and difficult problem”.

He said the potential impact on Sturgeon of a “disastrous” defeat in the civil case meant “it became very important that the criminal case overtook the judicial review”. In his written evidence to the committee, Salmond repeated his criticisms of top civil servant Leslie Evans over the Government probe.

He named Sturgeon’s husband Murrell, chief of staff Lloyd, and two other senior SNP figures as people who he says plotted to have him imprisoned. He wrote: “The evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort among a range of individuals in the Scottish Government and the SNP to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned.

“That includes, for the avoidance of doubt, Peter Murrell, Ian McCann (compliance officer) and Sue Ruddick (chief operating officer) of the SNP together with Liz Lloyd, the First Minister’s Chief of Staff.

“There are others who, for legal reasons, I am not allowed to name.”

Asked by Tory MSP Murdo Fraser at the Inquiry who should resign, Salmond said: “I think the people responsible for the disaster of the judicial review.”

The former first minister claimed the Government had persisted in fighting his legal challenge despite strong advice it would lose.

“This is people’s lives we’re talking about here, the complainants, myself, other people involved,” he said.

“There is the cost to the public purse, because ... (of ) the decision not to accept arbitration when they must have known how weak the case was.

“The decision not to follow external counsel advice in October, when they knew on the balance of probability they were going to lose, the decision to continue on, all that runs up the clock, these extraordinary bills are run up.

“That can’t be just the Lord Advocate, because if that had been a legal matter surely he would have said ‘time to settle’. That has to be a decision of the Permanent Secretary and presumably a decision of the First Minister.”

Salmond, who was acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault at a criminal trial last year, was awarded a £512,250 payout after he successfully challenged the lawfulness of the Government investigation into harassment claims made against him.

Sturgeon has previously said there is “not a shred of evidence” that there was a conspiracy against Salmond and she has denied lying to Parliament.

She is scheduled to appear before the committee next Wednesday.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: “Devastating evidence has revealed SNP cover-ups, costly mistakes and terrible errors of judgment. The number of accusations of misleading Parliament and breaking the ministerial code are extraordinary. The entire leadership of the ruling party of government are on the ropes.”

There is evidence for the reasons they should consider their positions nsALEX SALMOND