‘Police should launch investigation into newspaper leak’ – Salmond

Alex Salmond has urged Police Scotland to investigate the “politically inspired” leaking of sexual harassment allegations against him to the Daily Record newspaper three years ago. the Holyrood committee yesterday that is investigating the government’s handling of complaints against him, Mr Salmond said he was “confident” he knew who had leaked Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans’s report into the complaints, but would “not speculate” without being able to “substantiate” his statement.

The Daily Record revealed that sexual harassment allegations had been made against the former first minister in August 2018, and its reporting included wording from Ms Evans’s document.

Mr Salmond said the story appeared after the Scottish Government had reversed a decision to make the complaints public when it was threatened with an interdict.

Answering questions from Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie on the leak, he said the story included details of the complaints, "which demonstrataddressing ed they had either a copy of, or an extract from, the Permanent Secretary’s report – so someone had to have given them that document”.

Mr Salmond said this was "subsequently confirmed” by the Daily Record’s editor in a BBC documentary by Kirsty Wark.

He said: "As you know the ICO [Information Commissioner’s Office] and the procurator came to the conclusion that she was sympathetic to idea the source of the leak was from within the Scottish Government. “I do think it requires further police investigation.”