FDA union leader defends Leslie Evans against 'hounding'

The most senior civil servant in Scotland, Evans is the first woman to hold the role.

She commands a workforce of more than 6500 mandarins supporting the Scottish Government.

And she's also one of the prime figures in the divisive dispute between former First Minister Alex Salmond and current FM Nicola Sturgeon.

While Salmond was aquitted of sexual assault claims at the High Court in Edinburgh last year, a parliamentary enquiry is ongoing and has drawn scrutiny of Evans' professional actions.

It has also, according to the head of the FDA civil servants' trade union, led to "a media campaign, egged on by rent-a-quote politicians, which is aimed at hounding Ms Evans out of her role".

READ MORE: Douglas Ross fury as Leslie Evans rejects SNP 'propaganda' claim

Dave Penman makes the claims in an article for The Times newspaper today and says Evans is being used as "a convenient stick to beat the party of government with, from politicians who should — and do — know better".

The comments follow media reports about Evans' £250,000 pension pot and use of the Oasis song Wonderwall in a 2003 briefing to colleagues, with attention also given to the fact that her ex-musician husband Derek McVay is a former member of Edinburgh SNP.

Penman wrote: "What we are now witnessing is a media campaign, egged on by rent-a-quote politicians, which is aimed at hounding Ms Evans out of her role.

"This is not legitimate public or political interest; this is a concerted campaign aimed at undermining a public servant to further political ends.

"Anything that can be seen to undermine or attack her — from speeches she gave 18 years ago, to the value of her pension, and now the political affiliation of her husband, a private citizen — is all considered fair game."

He went on: "We need to continue to attract and retain the highest quality public servants for demanding jobs. But who would want to serve a government if they knew that their professional reputation would be trashed as soon as it was politically expedient to do so?

"It’s a reckless and destructive tactic, which will have a profound, long-term impact on public services. That’s something all political leaders should be worried about."

In a submission to the parliamentary enquiry, Salmond said he was persuaded by Sturgeon to rebutt two claims against him after receiving a letter from Evans, stating: "My view is now that it was believed that my submission of a rebuttal would weaken the case for judicial review (my involvement in rebutting the substance of the complaints being seen to cure the procedural unfairness)."

That was rejected by Sturgeon and cast as "false conspiracy theories" by her spokesperson.

Salmond initially called for Evans to quit when a judicial review found the Scottish Government's in-house probe into the accusations against him had been unlawful and affected by apparent bias. He was awarded more than £500,000 in the decision two years ago.