TORY MP Liam Fox has claimed the Alex Salmond saga at Holyrood could “bring politics in the whole of the United Kingdom into international disrepute".

The former minister, who infamously claimed in 2017 that a free-trade deal with the EU would be “easiest in human history”, asked what mechanisms the UK Government has to safeguard its reputation in the eyes of foreign observers.

During a dramatic intervention in the Commons, he suggested the Scottish Government was in danger of acting like a “tinpot dictatorship”.

Raising a point of order, he stated: "Yesterday, the former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, accused the Scottish Government of, and I quote, 'the complete breakdown of the necessary barriers which should exist between government, political party and indeed the prosecution authorities in any country which abides by the rule of law'.

"Madam Deputy Speaker, this would be a damning indictment in a tinpot dictatorship, but this is happening in a part of the United Kingdom.

"Given that the Scottish Parliament derives its authority from legislation passed in this Parliament, what mechanisms do we have to ensure that the conduct of the Scottish Government does not bring politics in the whole of the United Kingdom into international disrepute?"

It comes after Nicola Sturgeon dismissed claims that the Scottish Government put pressure on the Crown Office to call for the removal of Salmond’s evidence to the committee investigating the handling of harassment complaints made against him.

Salmond had demanded the Crown Office reveal if it was instructed to put pressure on parliament to redact his evidence.

Sturgeon said any suggestion that the Crown Office’s decisions were in any way politically influenced were “downright wrong”.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon says no good reason for Alex Salmond not to appear before MSPs

Responding to Fox’s point of order, the Commons Deputy Speaker said: "[Fox] has raised some very significant issues concerning the relationship between the legislature, the executive and the courts, that is the doctrine known as the separation of powers which is a very bedrock of our constitutional settlement.

"It is not, of course, for the occupant of the chair to make any judgment about what [Fox] has specifically said or indeed the quotation which he used, but this House is, of course, always concerned with safeguarding democratic standards and I'm sure that [Fox] will use his ingenuity to find a way of bringing this matter once again before the House when it can be fully examined."

Fox, who has both resigned and been sacked from the Cabinet in the past, was the UK’s nominee to become the director-general of the World Trade Organisation. He was knocked out of the running in October.

A prominent Brexiteer, he previously spoke in favour of the Internal Market Bill, despite the fact it paved the way for the UK to break international law if a last-minute deal had not been reached with the EU.

In September, the UK’s former ambassador in Washington described the bill as “hugely damaging to our international reputation”, warning that it could deter other countries from entering into agreements with the UK in the future.

At Holyrood, the cross-party harassment committee is investigating the Scottish Government’s flawed probe into allegations of misconduct made against Salmond by two civil servants.

He had the exercise set aside in January 2019, with a judicial review declaring it “unlawful” and “tainted by bias”.

At a later criminal case, the former SNP leader was cleared on 13 counts of sexual assault.