The sexual harassment scandal plaguing the SNP has now been ongoing for well over two years. Former First Minister Alex Salmond has openly accused Nicola Sturgeon of misleading a Holyrood inquiry tasked with investigating the harassment complaints procedure. With just a few months until the Scottish Parliament elections these accusations could prove incredibly damaging as they reveal just how divided the Party is.
The fiasco began in 2018 when claims of sexual misconduct first emerged. Having lost his parliamentary seat in the 2017 general election, Salmond was busy hosting a talk-show on the Russian state propaganda network RT. But he was soon dragged back into politics when it surfaced that two female staff members had made accusations against him dating back to his time as First Minister. Salmond claimed that the investigation of these complaints was deeply flawed and took the Scottish Government to court over the issue. The case against him collapsed when documents revealed that individuals conducting the investigation had had previous contact with those making the accusations, thus invalidating the entire procedure. In total, £500,000 of taxpayers’ money was wasted trying to defend the Scottish Government’s position. In response, MSPs agreed to launch an inquiry to establish why the initial harassment investigation was botched.
However, far from creating transparency, the inquiry has faced a string of highly suspect irregularities. Several senior SNP members were called to testify, including the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her husband, the Party’s Chief Executive, Peter Murrell. The two gave conflicting accounts of the initial meetings between Sturgeon and Salmond. Murrell even contradicted himself, suggesting he communicated using WhatsApp despite previously denying he used the messaging service. The inquiry Convener Linda Fabiani (herself an SNP MSP) described ‘delay, prevarication and obfuscation’ on the part of those giving evidence. Salmond has now accused the First Minister of lying to the inquiry about the nature of their initial meetings. If this proves accurate, it would be a serious breach of the ministerial code and clear grounds for resignation.
This farce is playing out against a backdrop of growing division within the SNP. In December, the Party elected over 20 Sturgeon critics to its national executive. Many of them are dissatisfied with her inability to further the independence agenda, and some are openly loyal to Salmond and would be all too happy for him to return.
Clearly, there are vested interests at play in this inquiry. All we know for sure is that someone is trying to obscure the truth. Unfortunately, until more evidence is brought to light, it is impossible to know who. The one thing that we do know is that the SNP are a fractured party, rife with internal squabbling. After 13 years in government, they take power for granted. Something they are entitled to rather than something they should earn. In this year’s Holyrood elections, the people of Scotland have an opportunity to change that. The Conservatives are the only ones offering a credible unionist alternative to the increasingly chaotic and extremist SNP agenda. We need to send a strong message that Scotland is sick of internal party politics and in desperate need of some integrity.