SALMOND PROBE
Nicola Sturgeon’s aide ‘knew about Alex Salmond sex misconduct’ allegations two months earlier than she says, MP claims
NICOLA Sturgeon's top aide knew about the Alex Salmond sex misconduct allegations two months before the First Minister claimed she found out, an MP says.
Senior Tory MP David Davis said he knew of messages between top civil servants from February 2018 which suggested Mrs Sturgeon’s chief of staff Liz Lloyd had “interfered” in the internal investigation of Mr Salmond.
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He also said that a whistleblower passed him messages between senior SNP officials, including Mrs Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell.
Mr Davis said those messages suggest a "concerted effort" to encourage complaints about Mr Salmond.
The First Minister is facing accusations she broke the ministerial code by misleading Parliament over when she found out about sexual harassment claims against her predecessor, Mr Salmond.
Mrs Sturgeon has denied Mr Salmond's accusations of an orchestrated plot to bring him down as "absurd".
Former UK Government minister Mr Davis yesterday used parliamentary privilege to reveal leaked messages which he said show there was a “concerted effort by senior members of the SNP to encourage complaints” against Mr Salmond.
What does David Davis allege?
- The MP used parliamentary privilege to claim Mrs Sturgeon's chief of staff Ms Lloyd knew about claims against Alex Salmond two months before she said she did
- He said Ms Lloyd was aware of the civil servant complaints of sexual harassment against Mr Salmond in February 2108 - and not that April
- He claimed to have communications that show the First Minister’s closest aide was not just aware of the complaints against Mr Salmond but was “interfering” in the process
- Mr Davis said he's seen messages from early February which show investigating officer Judith Mackinnon and another top civil servant, Barbara Allison, apparently discussing the allegations
- Sturgeon says the first she knew about the complaint was on April 2 when she met Mr Salmond in her home - but other witnesses claim she was made aware at a March 29 meeting in her Holyrood office
He told of one message from February 6, which he says is from investigating officer Judith Mackinnon to another top civil servant Barbara Allison.
The message reads: "Liz interference v bad.”
And he told MPs: "If true, this suggests the chief of staff had knowledge of the Salmond case in February.”
Mrs Sturgeon has insisted she first learned of harassment complaints against her predecessor on April 2 2018 - directly from Mr Salmond.
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But the Tory MP said the First Minister was "of course aware earlier than that - the question is just how aware and how much earlier".
Mr Davis also told MPs how documents handed to him by an anonymous whistleblower suggest Mrs Sturgeon’s chief executive husband Peter Murrell “co-ordinated” his party’s compliance officer Ian McCann and chief operating officer Sue Ruddick “in the handling of specific complainers”.
He said the texts - downloaded from Ms Ruddick’s phone - included one from September 28 2018, during the police investigation into Mr Salmond.
In that message, Mr McCann “expressed great disappointment” that “someone who promised to deliver five complainants to him by the end of that week had come up empty”, it's said.
And he said Ms Ruddick texted Mr McCann the day after Mr Salmond won his judicial review against the Scottish Government in January 2019, saying she hoped “one of the complainants would be sickened enough to "get back in the game".
Nicola Sturgeon denies claims she was 'out to get' Alex Salmond
Mr Salmond 'was victim of malicious conspiracy'
THE former first minister appeared at Holyrood as part of an inquiry into the government's mishandling of sexual harassment complaints about him.
And Nicola Sturgeon faced hours of questions during the probe.
During the hearing, she was quizzed on claims the government's revised harassment procedure, which were also applied to former ministers, was "created to get Alex Salmond".
But Ms Sturgeon said: "It wasn't. Absolutely, emphatically not.
"Alex Salmond has been, and I have said this many times, one of the closest people to me in my entire life.
"I would never have wanted to get Alex Salmond, and I would never, ever have wanted any of this to happen.
"If I could have, short of brushing complaints under the carpet which would have been wrong to me, if I could turn the clock back and find legitimate ways that none of this would ever have happened, then I would.
"Alex Salmond has been for most of my life, since I was about 20, 21 years old, not just a very close political colleague, a friend, someone in my younger days who I looked up to and revered.
"I had no motive, intention, desire to get Alex Salmond."
He added: “Later that month she confirmed to Murrell the complainant was now ‘up for the fight’ and keen to see him go to jail.
“This is improper to say the least - contact with and influence of potential witnesses is totally inappropriate once a criminal investigation is underway.”
The Holyrood inquiry investigating the government’s botched handling of harassment complaints about Mr Salmond previously agreed unanimously not to publish the material.
But Mr Davis said his intervention was prompted because Holyrood does not share the same privilege as at Westminster, meaning the evidence could be “freely discussed” in the Commons while an MSP doing the same could face prosecution.
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Last night Scots Tory leader Douglas Ross said: “February 2018 is two months before Nicola Sturgeon originally claimed to find out about complaints.
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"If her chief of staff knew then, and was interfering in the investigation, it blows another enormous hole in the First Minister's story."
But a spokesman for the First Minister said: “The comment read out by Mr Davis in relation to the chief of staff does not relate to (the complainers) and, at that time, she was not aware that there was any connection to the former First Minister."
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Nicola Sturgeon gives opening speech at Alex Salmond probe
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