Nicola Sturgeon DID mislead parliament over Alex Salmond 'sexual harassment' complaints, probe finds

NICOLA Sturgeon misled the Scottish Parliament in her war with Alex Salmond, a parliamentary probe has found.

The Scottish First Minister was being investigated by a Holyrood committee that has ruled by a 5 to 4 majority that she was not truthful in her evidence given to them.


Heaping pressure on Ms Sturgeon to quit, they found she misled the committee itself and therefore misled parliament and potentially breached the ministerial code of conduct.

But it's likely she will try to avoid having to resign because it does not accuse of her of being "knowingly dishonest".

However the findings are a major embarrassment for the Scottish National Party leader on the eve of crucial Scottish Parliament elections.

The Tories and Labour both say that in misleading parliament, she has breached the ministerial code of conduct.

Former first ministers have quit over far smaller incidents of breaching the rule book but Ms Sturgeon will try tough out the row.

She appeared before the committee last month giving evidence in both writing and in person claiming she had not offered to intervene in a harassment probe into alleged bad behaviour by her predecessor Mr Salmond.

But he blew that claim out of the water by testifying the opposite, and was backed up by his legal team who were present at meetings with Sturgeon.

Duncan Hamilton QC, his legal adviser said he heard Sturgeon tell Salmon in 2018: “If it comes to it, I will intervene.”

The report is expected to be formally published next week but its key finding was leaked tonight.

Ms Sturgeon’s spokesman hit back: "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."

It comes after senior Tory MP David Davis claimed a top aide knew about the allegations two months before the First Minister claimed she found out.

Mr Davis said he knew of messages between top civil servants from February 2018 which suggested Ms Sturgeon’s chief of staff Liz Lloyd had "interfered" in the internal investigation of Mr Salmond.

He also said a whistleblower passed him messages between senior SNP officials, including Mrs Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell.

Mr Davis said those messages suggest a "concerted effort" to encourage complaints about Mr Salmond.

Mr Davis used parliamentary privilege to reveal leaked messages which he said show there was a "concerted effort by senior members of the SNP to encourage complaints" against Mr Salmond. 

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