‘Bullying, intimidatory behaviour’ of Salmond
Top mandarin tells inquiry he knew of concerns about former First Minister – but REFUSES to say if he informed Sturgeon
ALEX Salmond displayed ‘bullying and intimidatory behaviour’ while First Minister, according to the former civil service chief.
Sir Peter Housden said he was ‘well aware’ of concerns amongst Scottish Government staff, although he never witnessed concerning behaviour.
The former permanent secretary yesterday told MSPs that there had been no ‘formal’ complaints against any minister during his time in post.
However, he repeatedly refused to reveal whether he had spoken to Nicola Sturgeon – then Deputy First Minister – about concerns regarding Mr Salmond’s behaviour.
Sir Peter – Scotland’s top civil servant from 2010 to 2015 – was quizzed by the Holyrood committee examining the government’s botched probe into harassbehaviour, ment complaints against the former SNP leader.
Speaking at the Scottish parliament, he said: ‘Bullying and intimidatory behaviour, I knew he could display those behaviours.
‘I knew the situation we were dealing with.’
Sir Peter said he was ‘well aware’ of it from conversations with his principal private secretary and others. There had been ‘no suggestions of sexual misconduct’.
During the session, Sir Peter told MSPs that Mr Salmond’s office at St Andrew’s House usually ran well, but that the atmosphere was occasionally ‘punctuated’ by concerns about his conduct.
When asked if he had raised any concerns with Miss Sturgeon, who was responsible for dealing with issues regarding ministerial Sir Peter said: ‘I am not able to go into specifics in terms of individuals.’ He raised concerns around ‘confidentiality’.
But, he later agreed with committee convener Linda Fabiani that it would have been ‘appropriate through normal procedure’ to have told a senior politician, such as Miss Sturgeon, about the behaviour.
In his previous written evidence to the committee, Sir Peter had revealed he was forced to act over SNP ministers whose behaviour was a ‘cause for concern’.
There was an ‘expectation’ that issues involving senior politicians would be dealt with ‘informally’, he said. Reflecting on how effective the informal measures were, he concluded: ‘My honest answer would be, in the short term, sometimes.’
Asked whether he passed on details of any concerns to his successor, Leslie Evans, Sir Peter said: ‘We had no known egregious acts or formal complaints or indications of sexual misconduct so, as far as we knew, we had no bodies buried.
‘So there was nothing that was in my secret box that I must pass on to the new permanent secretary.’
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: ‘As a matter of urgency, Nicola Sturgeon must confirm if she was spoken to by the most senior civil servant about serious harassment claims within the Scottish Government.
‘With each passing week, more and more questions are being raised about what Nicola Sturgeon knew and when during this period.’
Senior civil servant Barbara Allison, who was director of people at the Scottish Government from 2009 to 2016, said she, too, was a ‘huge believer’ in resolving office friction informally.
She told the committee that Mr Salmond was ‘demanding and difficult’ to work for, noting that he would ‘express displeasure’ if others failed to meet his high standards. However, she said people enjoyed working with him.
Miss Allison said: ‘He was visionary. He was dynamic. It was a bit of a rollercoaster.
‘So I think there’s lots of shades of grey.’
Miss Allison said she was not aware of any concerns around sexual misconduct until late 2017, when they were raised by two civil servants.
The Holyrood inquiry was set up after the Court of Session ruled in January 2019 that a probe into complaints made by two women had been ‘tainted by apparent bias’ with Mr Salmond awarded over £500,000 in taxpayers’ cash.
Mr Salmond was cleared of 13 charges of sexual assault, including attempted rape, in March.
‘It was a bit of a rollercoaster’