End of Nicola’s reign in sight claims former SNP special adviser

THE end of Nicola Sturgeon’s reign is getting closer, according to a former SNP special adviser.

Alex Bell, who worked for Alex Salmond, claimed that a ‘general state of failure’ will topple her.

He also claimed there is a ‘rot’ which now ‘seeps across the land’.

Writing in the Press and Journal, he said: ‘The end of Nicola Sturgeon’s time in office is in sight. It is not the allegations made by her predecessor that will topple her, but a general state of failure.

‘Under her, Scotland itself seems to have lost its integrity. This is not a land many of us recognise any more.’

He said the ‘chaos’ over the Holyrood inquiry ‘is emblematic of wider malaise where the institutions of government appear insecure and corrupted’. Mr Bell said Cabinet ministers last for 13 years in the SNP Government and special advisers ‘hang around for over a decade’, which he described as ‘profoundly non-democratic’ and ‘indicative of weak leadership’.

Although he said Miss Sturgeon has been a ‘political star’ with dedication and sincerity, he added: ‘This has disguised a rot that now seeps across the land.’ Meanwhile, a former SNP health secretary yesterday called for anyone involved in a conspiracy against Alex Salmond to get the sack.

Alex Neil said the former First Minister believes ‘a number of people have been involved in conspiring against him and stitching him up’.

Mr Salmond claimed in his written evidence to the Scottish parliament inquiry into the handling of complaints that Miss Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, the SNP’s chief executive, and her chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, were involved in a ‘deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort’ to damage his reputation, ‘even to the extent of having me imprisoned’.

Mr Neil told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme: ‘If it was proven there was a conspiracy, everybody involved in the conspiracy, I think, would be getting their jotters.’

Asked if Mr Salmond believes Nicola Sturgeon and her circle were involved in a conspiracy to ‘do him down’, Mr Neil replied: ‘Basically, I think he does, yes.

‘I think Alex believes after he lost his Westminster seat there was a possibility of a byelection in Scotland in his neck of the woods and he believes some people were frightened of him coming back in.’

He said the issue had become ‘a real problem’ for the SNP with the start of the Scottish parliament election campaign only four weeks away.