Sturgeon hits out at ‘false conspiracies’ of Salmond

NICOLA STURGEON has refused to confirm that she would quit as First Minister if it is found that she deliberately lied to Holyrood over the Alex Salmond affair, as she accused her predecessor of spreading “false conspiracy theories” about her.

The First Minister insisted she had not misled the Scottish Parliament about her handling of sexual harassment complaints against Mr Salmond, as two inquiries examining her conduct, which her opponents believe could see her forced from office, gather pace.

In a submission to an investigation into whether Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code, Mr Salmond said statements which she made to Holyrood about when she first became aware of complaints against him were “simply untrue”. He also described parts of written evidence she provided to the Holyrood inquiry into her government’s botched investigation against him as “untenable” and “wholly false”.

Under the ministerial code, any minister found to have deliberately misled parliament is expected to resign.

However, challenged yesterday by the BBC’S Andrew Marr, Ms Sturgeon insisted she would clear her name.

Asked whether she would quit if she was found to have lied, she said: “I did not mislead parliament, so I’m not going to speculate on what might happen in the future.”

She added that she would refute Mr Salmond’s claims “vigorously”, and said: “There are false conspiracy theories being spun about this ... by Alex Salmond, by people around him – you can draw your own conclusions around that.

“What I certainly reflect on is that at times I appear to be simultaneously accused of colluding with Mr Salmond to somehow cover up accusations of sexual harassment on the one hand, and then on the other hand being part of some dastardly conspiracy to bring him down.”

Ms Sturgeon has faced questions over when she first became aware of a civil service probe into complaints against Mr Salmond, which was set up in January 2018. She has told Holyrood the first she became aware of it was on April 2 2018, when Mr Salmond met her at her home and told her about it.

However, Mr Salmond has claimed she knew of it at least four days earlier, with the probe discussed at a meeting with one of his former aides.

In a submission to the Holyrood inquiry, Ms Sturgeon claimed she forgot about the earlier meeting and characterised it as informal, something Mr Salmond refutes. Yesterday, she refused to “get into the weeds” of the time frame during a TV interview.

MSPS investigating the botched civil service probe took the unprecedented step last week of invoking legal powers designed to force the release of documents obtained by Mr Salmond’s defence ahead of his trial, which he believes will add weight to his claims of a conspiracy.

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Tories, said: “If she has lied to the Scottish parliament, the public are very clear that she cannot continue.”