Nicola Sturgeon misled the Scottish Parliament over her handling of harassment claims against Alex Salmond, an inquiry has sensationally concluded.
A committee of MSPs said the First Minister ‘potentially breached the ministerial code’, which is generally considered a resignation offence, and tonight she was facing fresh calls to quit.
Their bombshell report came after Ms Sturgeon gave evidence about her role in the Scottish Government’s botched investigation into Mr Salmond in 2018.
Ms Sturgeon had insisted she did not offer to intervene in the complaints process against Mr Salmond during a meeting with him on April 2, 2018.
By a slim majority verdict of 5-4, the committee said that this was in ‘fundamental contradiction’ to testimony from Mr Salmond, according to Sky News, which obtained the report.
They say Mr Salmond’s account was corroborated by his legal adviser, Duncan Hamilton QC, who told the inquiry that Ms Sturgeon said: ‘If it comes to it, I will intervene.’
The report concludes: ‘Her [Ms Sturgeon’s] written evidence is, therefore, an inaccurate account of what happened and she has misled the committee on this matter. This is a potential breach of the ministerial code’.
Nicola Sturgeon misled the Scottish Parliament over her handling of harassment claims against Alex Salmond, an inquiry has concluded
A successful judicial review by Mr Salmond resulted in the investigation being ruled unlawful and ‘tainted by apparent bias’, with a £512,250 payout being awarded to him for legal fees
MSPs did not go as far as to say Ms Sturgeon ‘knowingly’ broke the code, for which ministers are expected to resign, but the findings will put immense pressure on her position.
Arriving at her home tonight following the report’s leak, Ms Sturgeon said she stood by her eight hours of testimony.
She said: ‘What’s been clear is that opposition members of this committee made their minds up about me before I uttered a single word of evidence – their public comments make that clear.
‘So this partisan leak tonight before they’ve finalised the report is not that surprising.’
Ms Sturgeon submitted written evidence to the Holyrood Inquiry as well as a gruelling eight-hour oral testimony earlier this month.
The Holyrood Inquiry was tasked with investigating the Scottish Government’s bungled handling of sexual harassment complaints made against the former first minister.
A successful judicial review by Mr Salmond resulted in the investigation being ruled unlawful and ‘tainted by apparent bias’, with a £512,250 payout being awarded to him for legal fees.
Mr Salmond was also later acquitted of 13 charges following a criminal trial.
Ms Sturgeon is also awaiting a report from James Hamilton QC, who will rule specifically on whether she broke the ministerial code.
Ms Sturgeon gave evidence for eight hours about the Scottish Government’s botched investigation into Mr Salmond in 2018
Critics accuse her of breaking the code by misleading Parliament on when she first learnt of allegations against Mr Salmond.
Ms Sturgeon previously claimed to have learnt about the allegations when Mr Salmond informed her at her home on April 2, 2018.
It later emerged she had had a meeting with Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, on March 29 in her office.
Ms Sturgeon claimed to have ‘forgot’ this meeting and later explained she thought they were talking about harassment in ‘general terms’.
She is also accused of failing to record crucial meetings, and pursuing the case against Mr Salmond despite lawyers telling her to drop it.
Pressure has been mounting on Ms Sturgeon in the wake of her testimony before the inquiry.
This week Tory MP David Davis used parliamentary privilege to reveal explosive messages which suggest Ms Sturgeon’s chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, was ‘interfering’ in the complaints process over the Salmond case.
According to Mr Davis, the messages disclosed by a whistleblower ‘demands serious investigation’.
The message is alleged to have been sent by Judith Mackinnon to the Government’s communications director on February 6 2018, almost two months before the First Minister claims to have first known about the investigation of her predecessor.
Ruth Davidson today also accused Mss Sturgeon of attempting a ‘cover-up’ after new evidence emerged of warnings it could look ‘shifty’ if information continued to be withheld during Mr Salmond’s legal challenge.
The Tories’ Holyrood leader asked Ms Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions about an email exchange in which the Government was told not disclosing ultimately-damning evidence of prior contact could be ‘portrayed as a failed attempt at a cover-up’.
According to the note released this week by the Government, external counsel argued it would be ‘better, more credible and less shifty-looking’ to adjust its defence against Mr Salmond’s legal challenge over the Government’s handling of sexual harassment complaints made against him.
The First Minister has so far refused to preempt speculation of her future and said her priority is dealing with Covid.
In his testimony, Mr Salmond – once a mentor and close friend of Miss Sturgeon – accused his successor and senior SNP figures of orchestrating a concerted plot to bring him down.
Miss Sturgeon has denied this and insisted she was never out to ‘get’ Mr Salmond.
She told MSPs at the inquiry: ‘I feel I may rebut the absurd suggestion that anyone acted with malice or as part of a plot against Alex Salmond. That claim is not based in any fact.’
‘Alex Salmond was one of the the closest people to me in my life – I would never have wanted to get Alex Salmond. I had no motive intention or desire to get Alex.’
The row at the heart of the SNP has reached a crescendo with just months to go before crucial Holyrood elections.
Ms Sturgeon is on course to win a majority – albeit by just one seat, according to recent polls – and will likely use the mandate to demand another independence referendum.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: ‘The Committee will publish its findings in the coming days and we will wait for that report. But we have already detailed that Nicola Sturgeon lied to the Scottish Parliament and for that, she must resign. All we’re waiting for is confirmation.’
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: ‘I am not going to prejudge the outcome of the committee report and we await its findings, but if it does conclude that the First Minister has misled Parliament and potentially breached the ministerial code then that is incredibly serious.’
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said: ‘The First Minister told the truth to the committee in eight hours of evidence, and stands by that evidence.
‘It is clear from past public statements that opposition members of this committee had prejudged the First Minister at the outset of the inquiry and before hearing a word of her evidence, so this partisan and selective briefing – before the committee has actually published its final report – is hardly surprising.
‘The question of the First Minister’s adherence to the ministerial code is being considered independently by James Hamilton and we expect to receive and publish his report soon.’
A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said the committee is still considering its report. It is expected to be published in the coming days.