In an explosive intervention, Fergus Ewing MSP claimed high-ranking officials conspired against the former First Minister in what he called Scotland’s “greatest political scandal”.
A former SNP minister has accused at least six senior civil servants and government advisors of plotting to have Alex Salmond jailed.
“Alex trounced the Scottish Government in his judicial review action, so much so that the Scottish Government’s very own lawyer and top KC deprecated the failings of his own client and the civil servants instructing him, in failing to reveal all the relevant documents to him. The judge in the case found that the process adopted by the civil servants was ‘tainted with apparent bias’.
The Salmond Inquiry concluded that the government investigation into harassment complaints against the former FM was “seriously flawed”. Ewing served as a cabinet minister from 2016 until 2021 and is one of the SNP’s longest serving MSPs. His intervention is a further sign of division in the SNP and the growing number of who believe Salmond was unfairly targeted by Nicola Sturgeon’s administration.
He said: “The truth has not emerged from the Holyrood inquiry, whose efforts were hamstrung by overt party partisanship, and also the fact ministers took around 21 months to hand over relevant documents. Much of what they did reveal to the committee was massively redacted, covering up vast swathes of what was contained in the documents.”
Top news stories today In 2021 then deputy first minister John Swinney narrowly survived a vote of no confidence over the failure to release documents. Ewing added: “They refuse even now to publish the redacted sections of the Hamilton Report on the false pretext that to do so would reveal the identities of the complainants in the Salmond trial – a trial where he was acquitted of all charges.
Ewing previously had the SNP whip suspended for a week for voting against his own party. However John Swinney may feel unable to punish his latest intervention with a budget vote looming for his minority government. It comes after police last week confirmed they are investigating the Scottish Government’s head of Cabinet, Parliament and Governance, James Hynd, over claims he gave false statements under oath to the Salmond inquiry.
Alex Salmond John Swinney Nicola Sturgeon Labour Party Police Scotland Hamilton Scottish Government Sunday Mail
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