A sad day for the governance and integrity of our country

RESIGNING from the SNP was a wise decision on Alex Salmond’s part. Compare it to the press conference he called to refute allegations of sexual abuse whose substance he did not know. With that attention-seeking act, he fed the flames of rumour and recrimination.

By contrast, his stepping down as a party member was dignified and thoughtful. Not the least of his calculations, one suspects, was that by doing so he would minimise the heartache this debacle is already causing his colleague, friend and leader, Nicola Sturgeon.

What his wife Moira is going through, as the gleeful circus of leaks and media coverage and thunderous columnising gathers momentum, can only be imagined. Nor can the mood on the home front have been helped by her husband’s statement in which he said that his love of the SNP and the wider independence movement were “the defining commitment of my life”.

In cases such as this, the partner – too often the wife or girlfriend – must descend into a special circle of hell. Whatever the outcome, whether Mr Salmond is found innocent or guilty, his wife will have little option but to present a public face that gives no hint of her real feelings.

So far so inevitable. Far less common is the position in which this furore places the First Minister. For Ms Sturgeon, the entire business must be excruciating in ways rarely – if ever – felt by any premier in the annals of political life. And the ordeal has only just begun.

While Mr Salmond has lashed out at the civil servant presiding over the internal independent inquiry, he must know that the new way of handling allegations of sexual misconduct at Holyrood is primarily the work of his former protegee. Ms Sturgeon, meanwhile, has affirmed that despite her sorrow, nothing must diminish the seriousness with which the women’s accusations are treated.

Mr Salmond’s bafflement and distress at the inexplicably slow and opaque way the process works is understandable – and this before the outrageous leaking of details of which even he was unaware. Yet if his outrage were allowed to derail the system, it would be a step back to the old days of patriarchal domination, when women were too afraid of the consequences to speak out.

For many years Mr Salmond was almost what you might call a father figure to Ms Sturgeon, a stalwart supporter of her political ambitions, who championed her at every turn. To watch as he stands accused of who knows precisely what, must be excruciating. And like all of us reluctant to believe any of it is true, she cannot know for sure that he is blameless. No-one can, until the evidence has been presented and he has been allowed to tell his side of the story.

It’s often said that women are the ones to pick up the pieces when their partners make mistakes. In this instance however Mr Salmond is proving mature and independent. He is not asking Ms Sturgeon for help, nor making his wife run the gauntlet of cameras, looking devotedly loyal. Instead he is turning to the law to challenge a procedure that seems at best opaque, and at worst palpably unfair to the alleged abuser.

Protecting the accusers’ identities at this stage is necessary and just. But not giving Mr Salmond sight of their claims, and allowing the story to become public at this delicate point, feels more like the act of witch hunters than of seekers of justice. In every so-called crime there must be a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Here, and in all cases investigated under these rules, the person in the dock is handicapped from the start. Thus, whatever now transpires, this episode will be a shadow on Mr Salmond’s reputation. If it goes badly, it will end his career.

Ms Sturgeon’s situation is not enviable. Thanks to her, Scotland is the only part of the UK where civil servants can bring accusations against ministers safe in the knowledge that they will be investigated independently. In this age of #Metoo, the First Minister’s determination to improve the position of those alleging harassment, bullying or worse, has unfortunately created a framework in which one of her oldest and dearest colleagues believes he has been legally wronged.

That cannot be right. Yet despite one’s sympathies for Mr Salmond’s predicament, it is galling that, thanks to the clumsiness and leakiness of the process, the focus has switched from the claims to the procedure itself. Now, it could be that the new system has encouraged them to come forward. Or perhaps #Metoo has taught them to be brave. Whatever the reason, the passage of time since the alleged events allows sceptics to have a field day. That too is regrettable, since it undermines those challenging alleged abusers, whose biggest fear is being called a liar.

Thus this scenario has turned into a duel where women’s veracity can be questioned before a single word has officially been spoken on their behalf. As a result, it is a sad day for Ms Sturgeon on almost every level. And for the SNP. But above all for the governance and integrity of our country.

This scenario has turned into a duel where women’s veracity can be questioned before a word has officially been spoken on their behalf