‘Salmond let me down but there was no plot’
Nicola Sturgeon flatly denies ex-first minister’s conspiracy claims during eight hours of evidence
‘I refused to follow the usual pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and connections to get what he wants’
NICOLA STURGEON choked back tears and insisted “I would never have wanted to ‘get’ Alex Salmond”, as she yesterday rejected as absurd his claims of a plot among top SNP figures to destroy him.
The First Minister told a Holyrood inquiry the “simple” truth was that several women had made complaints about Mr Salmond, adding: “I refused to follow the usual pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and connections to get what he wants.”
In an appearance spanning eight hours, Ms Sturgeon insisted she had seen “nothing that comes within a million miles” of supporting Mr Salmond’s claims of a conspiracy.
Although she reiterated it was “beyond question” that Mr Salmond had been cleared of all criminal charges, she said his behaviour was still “deeply inappropriate” and “there was not a single word of regret” from him during his testimony last Friday.
Ms Sturgeon appeared on the verge of tears as she was invited to apologise to the Scottish people for arguing for years that they could trust Mr Salmond to take them to independence. Murdo Fraser, a Conservative MSP, pressed her on when she had decided that he “was in fact a liar and a fantasist?”
Admitting that she had had to “rethink certain things” about him, Ms Sturgeon said: “As I was watching him on Friday lashing out against us, I don’t know whether he ever reflects on the fact many of us, including me, feel very let down by him. That’s a matter of deep personal pain and regret for me.”
She faced a litany of allegations that she had broken the ministerial code – normally a cause for resignation – after two key witnesses corroborated Mr Salmond’s version of events.
Ms Sturgeon admitted that people would struggle to understand parts of her account, including forgetting a meeting on Mar 29 2018 at which she was informed about sexual misconduct claims against him.
As she gave evidence yesterday, Mr Salmond announced that he had lodged a formal complaint about a Scottish Government official who allegedly leaked the name of a woman who made allegations against him.
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: “The abiding memory of this evidence session will be Nicola Sturgeon proclaiming ‘I can’t recall’ on repeat. It’s not remotely credible, in fact it’s plainly absurd, for the First Minister to ask us to believe her account of a secret meeting that she claims to have forgotten entirely, instead of the evidence of multiple credible witnesses.”
In her opening statement, Ms Sturgeon admitted her Government made a “very serious mistake” when investigating sexual misconduct complaints against her predecessor and mentor, and apologised to two female civil servants who lodged complaints.
She said she wanted to “rebut the absurd suggestion that anyone acted with malice” and claimed her Government had “tried to do the right thing” despite bungling its investigation.
Text messages have emerged from Peter Murrell, Ms Sturgeon’s husband and the SNP’S chief executive, in which he said it was a “good time to be pressurising” police to investigate Mr Salmond. She insisted this had been taken out of context and the full message gave a “very, very different impression”.
She said the messages were between people cooperating with police inquiries and supporting one other.
Mr Salmond won a judicial review in 2019 when Scotland’s highest civil court found that the way the Scottish Government investigated sexual misconduct allegations against him was unlawful. The SNP administration he once led paid him £512,250 of taxpayers’ money to cover his legal costs after the judge Lord Pentland ruled the inquiry was “procedurally unfair” and “tainted with apparent bias”. The committee’s inquiry into the debacle started after Mr Salmond was acquitted of sexual assault charges at the High Court last year.
Yesterday Ms Sturgeon denied that one of her officials had named a complainant in a meeting with Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond’s chief of staff, in March 2018. But Mr Aberdein’s claim has been corroborated by Kevin Pringle, former SNP chief spin doctor, and Duncan Hamilton, a former MSP.
Mr Salmond was adamant last week that Ms Sturgeon knew about the allegations at a meeting with Mr Aberdein in her parliamentary office on Mar 29 2018, despite her claims that she first found out about the Government’s investigation four days later. She said yesterday that she recognised how “unlikely” it sounded that this meeting had slipped her memory.
Ms Sturgeon did not inform the civil service of her dealings with Mr Salmond until June that year. She said yesterday that doing so earlier could have been perceived as her trying to influence the investigation.
Mr Hamilton was present at the Apr 2 meeting at her home and confirmed she “did offer to assist” him with her Government’s investigation, only to change her mind.
Ms Sturgeon admitted yesterday that she may have given him the impression she would step in to help him because she was trying to “let a long-standing friend and colleague down gently”. However, she said that “crucially” she had not stepped in.
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said: “The First Minister today dismantled all of the claims which have been made against her. In fully eight hours of evidence, the opposition completely failed to substantiate any of the allegations and absurd conspiracy theories which have been levelled at her and her office in this case.”