Police made a ‘circus’ of Sturgeon raid, says ex-spin chief

Murray Foote is ‘willing to bet’ there will be no charges in SNP fraud case

A FORMER SNP spin chief has claimed the investigation into party finances may be a “wild goose chase” and attacked police by branding a raid on Nicola Sturgeon’s home a “grotesque circus”.

Murray Foote, who resigned as the SNP’S head of communications at Holyrood in March, said that he would be “willing to bet” that there would be no charges brought in the fraud investigation that has engulfed the party.

Peter Murrell, Ms Sturgeon’s husband, was arrested last month and the home he shares with the former first minister was extensively searched over two days, with a forensics-style tent put up on her front lawn. SNP headquarters in Edinburgh was also raided and Colin Beattie, the former party treasurer, was later arrested.

Mr Foote wrote in The Daily Record, which he used to edit, that it was “worth considering” whether Operation Branchform, the Police Scotland investigation, was a “wild goose chase”.

He said that Scottish police and prosecutors had previously botched high-profile inquiries, including a fraud probe into activities related to Rangers football club in which tens of millions was later paid in compensation to those wrongly accused.

“The authorities have previous for high-profile inquiries collapsing in scandal,” Mr Foote wrote. “If they have spectacularly misjudged this one too, then the reputational cost will be far more substantial than the cash spent on manpower.

“By the way, I’m not criticising the investigation itself. If the police receive a complaint, it’s their duty to investigate. Rather, it is the extraordinary manner in which Operation Branchform has been conducted which is concerning.

“The use of forensic tents and a whole platoon of plod at the house turned a routine process into a grotesque circus, compounded by the storming of SNP HQ.”

Mr Foote said he did not have inside information about the inquiry, and acknowledged that he may yet be proved wrong.

But he launched a defence of Mr Murrell and Mr Beattie, who were both released by police without charge pending further inquiries.

Mr Foote resigned after he issued incorrect denials to reports that the party had lost 30,000 members. He suggested

‘Forensic tents and a platoon of plods turned this into a grotesque circus’

he had been misled by others in the party.

The scandal then brought down Mr Murrell, who resigned as SNP chief executive the following day, after accepting blame for the fiasco over membership figures.

Mr Foote said: “In Peter Murrell and Colin Beattie, two less likely master criminals you will struggle to meet. Firstly, Peter’s loyalty to his wife is unquestionable.

“First Minister Sturgeon and her husband lived under crushingly intense scrutiny. It is inconceivable to me that Peter would so much as consider doing something dodgy lest it rebound and put his wife in jeopardy.

“Police diligently going about their business is one thing. What happened at the first minister’s home is something else entirely.”