Henry McLeish calls for swift end to Salmond-Sturgeon dispute

The former Labour first minister made the intervention as he appealed for a line to be drawn soon under the “unprecedented row” and certainly before the Holyrood election in May.

“Boris Johnson can’t believe his luck. The Covid vaccination success has boosted him in the polls and this row is boosting him as from afar it looks like Scotland is in a political mess. Johnson will make hay while this is happening,” McLeish told The National.

“It couldn’t have come at a worse time. He is trying to dislocate activities in Scotland, he is trying to undermine devolution, he’s been talking about reviewing the Barnett formula [which determines the size of the Scottish Government’s block grant from Westminster] and create the impression that Scotland is out of line and the old version of the Union is in the best position.”

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Two inquiries are ongoing, one a Holyrood probe into what went wrong in the Scottish Government’s investigation into complaints made against Salmond when he was first minister. It was found by a court to have been unlawful, unfair and “tainted by apparent bias”.

A second inquiry is being conducted by James Hamilton QC into whether the First Minister broke the Ministerial Code, regarded as a resignation matter. McLeish, who was first minister from 2000 to 2001 and resigned over an office expenses issue, said he wanted to see the situation resolved soon.

“We have an election coming up in May. The two inquiries have got to be concluded as soon as possible, one way or the other. I certainly wouldn’t want these inquiries to be extended beyond the election. I don’t think that would be fair on anybody.”

He also appealed for calm and said politicians should allow the inquiries to conclude before drawing conclusions. “As a former first minister, and there are not many of us around, I am asking people to look upon this with some perspective.

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“Across the board we are jumping to conclusions. We need to step back from the brink and let due process carry without deepening this crisis.

“I have never seen anything like this in Scottish politics before. There is a party which seems to be tearing itself apart in full public view.”

Salmond launched a scathing attack on the Scottish Government in his opening statement to the inquiry last Friday.

“Scotland has not failed, its leadership has failed,” he said in his opening remarks to MSPs.

During six hours of questioning he repeatedly accused Sturgeon of breaching the Ministerial Code of conduct and has alleged that figures including Peter Murrell, the chief executive of the SNP and husband of the First Minister, and three other senior figures close to Sturgeon of a “deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort” to damage his reputation and have him jailed.

In turn, the First Minister, who gives evidence to the committee this Wednesday, has accused Salmond of pushing “wild” conspiracy theories and putting forward “an alternative reality”. She has denied breaching the Ministerial Code.

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In January, McLeish, who wants to see a federal UK, condemned Johnson’s lockdown visit to Scotland, saying the Prime Minister had “lost the plot” over the Union and had no idea how to save the UK from collapse.

At the time polls had suggested growing support for independence.

However, a poll published yesterday which was carried out on Thursday after Salmond’s dramatic written evidence to the committee was made public, but before his marathon appearance before MSPs on Friday showed a 50-50 split for and against independence.

It was the first of more than 20 opinion polls not to record a majority for Yes – raising fears among independence supporters that the ongoing feud is having a damaging impact.