Nicola Sturgeon today claimed that allegations she lied about a meeting with her predecessor Alex Salmond were ‘wild conspiracy theories’.
Scotland’s First Minister met with Alex Salmond in her home on April 2 2018, where he outlined complaints of sexual harassment made against him.
Earlier this week, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – Ms Sturgeon’s husband – said he was aware the meeting took place, but not what it involved.
Mr Murrell told the committee on Tuesday, under oath, that he believes the meeting was on government business.
It contradicted a written statement from his wife in which she claimed she believed the meeting would be a party issue, meaning it did not need to be recorded in line with the ministerial code.
Ms Sturgeon has been under the microscope this week in light of her husband’s bombshell evidence and was pushed on the matter by Ruth Davidson today.
Scottish Conservatives’ Holyrood leader Ms Davidson accused the First Minister of believing the public’s ‘heads button up at the back’.
Ms Sturgeon responded that she did not share the contents of the meeting in their home with her husband, adding she is ‘not the office gossip’.
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg also claimed it was ‘improbable’ that Ms Sturgeon did not share with her husband the contents of the meeting.
Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, Mr Rees-Mogg expressed doubt over Mr Murrell’s evidence.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrives for the First Minister’s Questions at the parliament in Holyrood today
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg also claimed it was ‘improbable’ that Ms Sturgeon did not share with her husband the contents of the meeting
SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell giving evidence to a Scottish Parliament committee in Edinburgh this week
Appearing before the Scottish Parliament’s Committee Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, Mr Murrell said: ‘Every single day, Scottish Government business is not relayed to me.
‘Nicola is very confidential about the process – she has been a minister for a very long time and we just do not talk about Government business.’
Ms Sturgeon and Alex Salmond will not appear at a Holyrood inquiry until next year following delays sparked by the Scottish Government’s refusal to hand over key evidence.
The committee examining the Government’s botched probe into complaints against Mr Salmond has been forced to suspend public meetings until after Christmas.
MSPs had planned to complete inquiries this month but have repeatedly been thwarted due to a secrecy row with SNP ministers.
It is understood the committee will recommence public evidence- gathering in January.
Ms Sturgeon told Ms Davidson today: ‘This is an inquiry into an investigation of sexual harassment and that is why we should all treat it seriously but those who choose to indulge in wild conspiracy theories make it less likely rather than more likely that we learn the lessons of that.’
The First Minister said her husband has ‘no role’ in matters relating to the Scottish Government and it was for her, as the leader of the government, to answer questions about its conduct.
She added the Tory MSP was seeking to use ‘my husband as a weapon against me’.
Ms Davidson rejected the First Minister’s explanation.
She said: ‘Here’s what we’re being asked to believe here – that the chief executive of the SNP popped his head round the door to find the First Minister of Scotland, coincidentally his wife, her predecessor Alex Salmond, his chief of staff, her chief of staff and Mr Salmond’s lawyer, all sitting unannounced in his living room.
‘And he never asks a single question, then or since, of what that’s all about.’
When asked if she expects her evidence to be believed, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘Yes, because that happens to be the truth.
‘That may not suit what Ruth Davidson wants to be the situation but I’m afraid that is the situation.’
She added: ‘On the issue of conversations, or lack of conversations with my husband – I sometimes feel that the opposition here is revealing more about themselves than they are about me.
‘The fact of the matter is, I am First Minister of Scotland, I deal with confidential matters every single day of my life, these range from national security matters through to market sensitive commercial matters and a whole range of things in between.
‘I don’t gossip about these things, even to my husband.
‘I am the First Minister of the country, not the office gossip, and I take my responsibilities in that role extremely seriously.’
Scottish Conservatives’ Holyrood leader Ruth Davidson (pictured) accused the First Minister of believing the public’s ‘heads button up at the back’
Alex Salmond was cleared of 13 charges of sexual assault in March 2020. The former SNP leader was then awarded more than £500,000 to cover his legal fees
In Westminster meanwhile, in response to a question from SNP MP Tommy Sheppard about next year’s Holyrood election, Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘(Mr Sheppard) doesn’t want to get on to the rather juicy gossip that’s coming out of the SNP as well.
‘What do we have? That the chief executive of the SNP, when he’s at home, never talks about politics to the First Minister, no, of course, he only talks about cooking.
‘Well, it makes it sound as if his household is even more old-fashioned than mine because I must confess that in the Rees-Mogg household we spend a lot of time talking about politics and I must confess that it seems improbable that such a highly-politicised family never talks about such interesting things.’
A spokesman for the First Minister said: ‘The First Minister and Peter Murrell are better placed to talk about these things than Jacob Rees-Mogg, who knows next to nothing about Scottish politics.’
Meanwhile, former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson has said he was told of allegations against Mr Salmond 11 years ago.
In a letter to the committee, Mr Robertson, who is seeking a seat in the Scottish Parliament next year, said he was contacted by a manager at Edinburgh Airport in 2009 who claimed a member of staff had made a complaint about Mr Salmond.
The former Moray MP wrote: ‘In 2009, I was called by an Edinburgh Airport manager about Alex Salmond’s perceived ‘inappropriateness’ towards female staff at the airport.
‘I raised the matter directly with Mr Salmond, who denied he had acted inappropriately in any way.’
No complaint was made about the matter.
Mr Salmond successfully challenged the Scottish Government’s investigation of sexual harassment claims against him and was awarded £512,250 after the Court of Session said it was unlawful and ‘tainted with apparent bias’.
On Tuesday, Mr Murrell told the Holyrood Inquiry that he arrived home during a meeting between Ms Sturgeon and her predecessor on April 2 2018, in which Mr Salmond made her aware of sexual harassment allegations.
Although Mr Murrell said he had a ‘sense’ the meeting was about something serious, he told a Holyrood inquiry that Ms Sturgeon did not reveal what had been discussed.
His evidence has paved the way for closer scrutiny into whether Miss Sturgeon misled parliament by giving ‘false’ evidence.
If found to have done so, she would be expected to resign.
Mr Murrell, the SNP’s chief executive, told the inquiry that the meeting in 2018 was very clearly ‘government business’, which would require a record to be taken.
But Miss Sturgeon has repeatedly insisted she saw the meeting as ‘party’ business, which does not require her to log it in records at all.
Peter Murrell (left) directly contradicted the sworn testimony of his wife (pictured right updating MSPs in the Scottish Parliament over Covid measures) over a meeting that she had held at their marital home with Mr Salmond
Husband vs Wife: How Peter Murrell’s claims completely contradict Nicola Sturgeons’
Mr Murrell, the SNP’s chief executive, told the inquiry that the meeting in 2018 was very clearly ‘government business’, which would require a record to be taken. But Miss Sturgeon (pictured with her husband in 2019), has repeatedly insisted she saw the meeting as ‘party’ business, which does not require her to log it in records at all
Peter Murrell:
The SNP’s chief executive said his wife Nicola Sturgeon did not tell him about sexual harassment allegations involving former first minister Alex Salmond.
Peter Murrell said he arrived home during a meeting between Ms Sturgeon and her predecessor on April 2 2018, in which Mr Salmond made her aware of the claims.
Although Mr Murrell said he had a ‘sense’ the meeting was about something serious, he told a Holyrood inquiry that Ms Sturgeon did not reveal what had been discussed.
Giving evidence to the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints on Tuesday, he said he only learned about the sexual harassment complaints when they became public and denied being involved in a plot against the former first minister.
Nicola Sturgeon:
Miss Sturgeon met Mr Salmond on three occasions to discuss the misconduct probe, on April 2, June 7 and July 14, 2018.
In written evidence to the Holyrood committee, she said all meetings were undertaken ‘as party leader and from the perspective of preparing my party for any potential public issue’.
Miss Sturgeon told parliament that no records of the meeting were taken – including minutes, notes and diary entries – because she was acting in her capacity as SNP leader and not First Minister.
The SNP leader previously claimed the meeting on April 2, 2018, was the first time she learned of the serious harassment complaints facing her former colleague.
However, it later emerged that she had learned of ‘allegations of a sexual nature’ against him at a meeting on March 29, 2018, with Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff.
Miss Sturgeon claims to have forgotten the details of this meeting.
Miss Sturgeon previously claimed that she thought Mr Salmond had asked to meet her on April 2 to resign from the SNP.
Mr Murrell told MSPs his wife had initially ‘thought it was a party matter’ but ‘once Alex told her what the meeting was about then it became something else’.