Alex Salmond claims First Minister’s leadership has failed Scotland

In what may be one of the most significant committee meetings in the 22-year history of the Scottish Parliament, the former First Minister took aim at the woman who had once been one of his closest friends, accusing her of multiple breaches of the Ministerial Code.

And in a remark that risks inflaming divisions among Yes supporters, he even suggested the SNP leader wasn’t the best person to lead Scotland towards independence.

However, while he called for the Lord Advocate, Scotland’s top civil servant, the SNP’s chief executive and the First Minister’s chief of staff to all consider their positions, he stopped short of calling for his successor to resign.

He said he was in “no doubt” that she had broken the rules governing the conduct of ministers.

But asked several times if he thought she should quit, Salmond told the committee: “It’s not for me to decide what the consequences should be.”

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Salmond had the Government’s investigation into two complaints of harassment against him set aside in January 2019, with a judicial review declaring that a procedural blunder by the civil service rendered it “unlawful” and “tainted by bias”.

The Government’s botched handling ultimately cost the taxpayer half a million pounds.

He was found not guilty on multiple counts of sexual assault at a subsequent criminal trial.

At the start of a mammoth six-hour session in front of the committee, Salmond – clearly struggling with a chest infection – reminded MSPs that it was not he who was under investigation, but a Government “whose actions are no longer true to the principles of openness, accountability and transparency”. Salmond had been due to speak earlier this week but withdrew over a row about unexpectedly redacted evidence.

He told MSPs they needed to “shine a light on the activities of the Crown Office, and to examine the unacceptable conduct of those who appear to have no understanding of the importance of separation of party, and Government and prosecution authorities, and indeed of the rule of law itself”.

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Sturgeon has long denied Salmond’s allegations and earlier this week accused him of “creating an alternative reality” in which he was the victim of a “wild conspiracy” because it was “easier than just accepting that at the root of all this might just have been issues in his own behaviour”.

She said he did not have a “shred of evidence” to back up his claims.

Yesterday Salmond told MSPs: “I know that the First Minister asserts that I have to prove a case.

“I don’t. That has already been done. There have been two court cases, two judges, one jury.”

“It’s the Scottish Government, a Government which has already admitted to behaving unlawfully, who are under examination,” he added.

Salmond told the committee he had “no incentive or advantage in revisiting the hurt and shock” of the last few years, either “from a personal perspective, or indeed from the perspective of two complainants failed by the Government, and then forced directly against their express wishes into a criminal process”.

He said: “For two years and six months this has been a nightmare. In fact, I’ve every desire to move on, to turn the page, to resist talking yet again about a series of events which have been amongst the most wounding that any person can face.

“But the reason I’m here today is because we can’t turn that page, nor move on until the decision making which is undermining the system of government in Scotland is addressed.

“The competence and professionalism of the civil service matters. The independence of the Crown Office as acting in the public interest matters.

“Acting in accordance with legal advice matters.

“Concealing evidence from the courts matters.

“The duty of candour of public authorities matters.

“Democratic accountability through Parliament matters.

“Suppressing evidence from parliamentary committees matters. And yes, ministers telling the truth to Parliament matters. The day such things come to not matter would be a dark and dangerous one for Scotland.

“Collectively, these events shine a light on a Government whose actions are no longer true to the principles of openness, accountability and transparency, which are the core principles on which the Scottish Parliament was founded. I remember. I was there.

“The failures of leadership are many and obvious. And yet not a single person has taken responsibility, or a single resignation. Not a single sacking.”

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He said it was wrong to say that the failures of Government and the Crown Office “mean that Scotland is in danger of becoming a failed state”.

“The Scottish civil servant hasn’t failed, its leadership has failed. The Crown Office hasn’t failed, its leadership has failed. Scotland hasn’t failed, its leadership has failed. So the importance of this inquiry is for each and every one of us to help put this right.”

He said the committee was “a chance to assert what type of Scotland we are trying to create”.

Salmond added: “Few would now dispute that our country is a better place for achieving our Parliament.

“However, the move to independence, which I’ve sought all my political life and continue to seek, must be accompanied by institutions whose leadership is strong and robust and capable of protecting each and every citizen from arbitrary authority.

“Such a principle is a central component of the rule of law that matters to every person in Scotland, as much as it always has done. It is the bedrock of our democracy of justice and fairness.”

Sturgeon is scheduled to appear before the committee on Wednesday, and her spokesman said she “looks forward” to addressing issues Salmond raised.

The spokesman said: “The people of Scotland have shown, in poll after poll and election after election, that they back the leadership of the SNP and of Nicola Sturgeon.

“Today was Alex Salmond’s chance to provide proof of the conspiracy which has been alleged – and he did not do so. Instead, under oath, he explicitly conceded there was no such evidence against the First Minister, and also gave testimony which directly undermined some of the central planks of the conspiracy theories.”