Sturgeon powerless to block Salmond
First Minister’s supporters expect former SNP leader to try to bring her down after his conspiracy claims
CLOSE allies of Nicola Sturgeon fear there is nothing they can do to block Alex Salmond from rejoining the SNP then ramping up his civil war with her after he was cleared of 13 sex offences.
Senior sources close to the First Minister said they thought Mr Salmond’s re-entry would be “automatic” as he resigned before he was suspended.
They told The Daily Telegraph that any attempt to prevent him resuming membership would backfire by creating a huge furore that would feed into his claims of a conspiracy against him.
Ms Sturgeon is said to be putting a brave face on the prospect, but her supporters expect Mr Salmond will use his “proxies” to try to bring her down.
Meanwhile, a former SNP health minister said a judge should investigate claims that the Scottish Government conspired to “do in” Mr Salmond. Alex Neil, an ally of Mr Salmond, said allegations that the “organs of the state” conspired against the former first minister had been central to his defence.
Sources close to Mr Salmond said he believed senior figures inside the Scottish Government helped orchestrate significant parts of the case against him, and that he intended to sue for extensive damages.
The women who made the allegations against Mr Salmond included an SNP politician, a party worker and several current and former Scottish government civil servants and officials.
Mr Salmond told the court the allegations were “deliberate fabrications for a political purpose” and were aimed at preventing him from making a political comeback. His legal team wanted to show the jury a series of text messages they claimed showed the Scottish Government had orchestrated the criminal prosecution to “discredit” him, but were prevented by the trial judge.
They included a message from one of Mr Salmond’s accusers that claimed he was intent on “bringing down Nicola on the way”. Gordon Jackson QC, his lawyer, claimed one of his accusers had “encouraged others to make false complaints” to the police.
Mr Salmond was cleared of 12 counts of sexual assault while one count of rape was found to be not proven.
Joanna Cherry, the SNP’S Westminster home affairs spokesman and mooted successor to Ms Sturgeon, has said Mr Salmond must be allowed to rejoin the SNP “without delay”.
A source close to Ms Sturgeon said they were sceptical of a 2021 Holyrood comeback, saying Mr Salmond would probably wage war on Ms Sturgeon using allies such as Ms Cherry.