A TORY MP has named Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff as the source who leaked a sensitive Scottish Government report into sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond.
David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, used parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons to accuse Liz Lloyd of sharing with the Daily Record a report detailing the claims against Salmond.
In 2018 it was revealed an investigation had been started after two female civil servants had complained about Salmond’s conduct.
In an adjournment debate on Thursday evening, Davis called for “democratic accountability” as he criticised the Scottish Government’s unlawful investigation into sexual harassment allegations made against Salmond.
Davis has previously used parliamentary privilege to raise concerns about the processes surrounding the investigation into the former SNP leader.
In 2018, Salmond took the Scottish Government to court, but the administration conceded prior to a judicial review that the way it conducted the inquiry was “unlawful”.
He was later charged with multiple counts of sexual assault but was cleared of all of the allegations against him after a High Court trial in March 2020.
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During an adjournment debate on the adequacy of the Scotland Act 1998, Davis said the investigatory powers of the Scottish Parliament should be strengthened.
On Thursday, the MP for Goole and Pocklington told the Commons: “Three years ago on March 16, 2021, I presented to this House the implications of the unlawful Scottish Government investigation and contrived criminal charges against Alex Salmond.
“I recommended empowering the Scottish Parliament to investigate as a Scottish court found the Government acted illegally and engaged in the process tainted by bias against Mr Salmond.
“Regrettably, the investigative committee appointed by Holyrood was limited in its powers of investigation, operating without protection of privilege, and was thwarted at every turn by the delay, obfuscation and even threats from the Scottish Government and institutions of state.
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“Three years on, that failure in democratic accountability has not been addressed, the investigatory powers of the Scottish Parliament could have been strengthened, decisions whether and who to prosecute could have been made entirely independent of ministers in the Scottish Government.
“Neither of these things have happened, forcing me to raise this matter again.”
On behalf of the Government, Scotland Office minister Kirsty McNeill said: “Scrutiny of the Scottish Government is a matter for the Scottish Parliament.”
She added that the legal proceedings between Salmond and the Scottish Government are ongoing.
The former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously said that she did not intervene in the investigation and described Salmond’s claims of a plot against him as “absurd”.
The National understands Lloyd rejects Davis's accusation.
Speaking about Lloyd's alleged involvement with the leak, Davis told the Commons that then-permanent secretary Leslie Evans in 2018 had decided some of the complaints made against Salmond were "well-founded" and that the press would be informed.
He added: "Salmond was told of Evans’ decision, and that a press release was to be issued at 5 pm.
"Salmond’s legal team was about to lodge a judicial review of the whole procedure, so it urgently sought—and received—written assurances that no press release would be issued.
"Despite those assurances, only hours later, the Daily Record published news of the allegations—part of the decision report had been unlawfully leaked.
"Other than Mr Salmond, only the Scottish Government had that report. However, I have met a witness who has made a statement that he was told by the then political editor of the Daily Record that the story was leaked by Liz Lloyd."
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