Salmond: Now I’m being airbrushed from SNP website
THE war of words between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon intensified last night after references to the former first minister were airbrushed from the SNP’s website.
Mr Salmond accused the party leader of trying to ‘rewrite history’ after his photograph and information about how he served the Nationalists were taken down.
A section of the site, called Our Party, details the history of the SNP and previously featured a prominent picture of Mr Salmond.
Regarding the 2011 Holyrood elections, it stated: ‘Following the historic win, leader Alex Salmond announced that the SNP Government would hold a referendum on independence within five years.’
But the image and text have now been removed. And while there are 11 mentions of Mr Salmond in other parts of the site, there are far more references to Theresa May and Ruth Davidson.
The SNP said the changes were part of a revamp and that Mr Salmond featured when he was leader, but now Miss Sturgeon was the only leader to feature.
But Mr Salmond told The Sun newspaper: ‘Nicola should stop rewriting history and concentrate on making history by taking Scotland to independence.’
It is his most direct attack on Miss Sturgeon since his victory earlier this month at the Court of Session over the Government’s botched inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct against him, which he denies.
It follows accusations by Miss Sturgeon’s advisers that Mr Salmond’s team is trying to ‘smear her’.
Last night, a Scottish Tory spokesman said: ‘This is the level that the SNP leadership has descended to – childish fights over website mentions.’ Eleven mentions of Mr Salmond can be found elsewhere on the SNP website, including articles written by him.
But this compares with 232 mentions of Miss Sturgeon, 178 mentions of Theresa May and 61 of Ruth Davidson.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The Sun concocted this nonsense by comparing a single page of the SNP website from 2011 with its 2019 variant. Alex features as leader in 2011, and Nicola in the latest version.’
Meanwhile, Miss Sturgeon is under growing pressure to rule out selecting a Nationalist MSP to chair a Holyrood inquiry into the investigation into Mr Salmond.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: ‘Given the likely remit of the committee and the power of the convenor, it would be best served if the convenor did not belong to the same political party as the Government.’
The Scottish Government said: ‘The establishment of the committee, its chair, membership and remit is not a matter for the First Minister.’
Saturday Essay – Page 18