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Sky News may reveal more details contained in a report that found that Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon misled parliament.
Holyrood’s harassment committee also found it “hard to believe” that it was unaware of the concerns about Alex Salmond’s behavior prior to November 2017.
And the committee members have included a passage in their report to say that they are “concerned” about the time it took, in the wake of the harassment complaints against Mr. Salmond, for Ms. Sturgeon to tell her senior official public about contacting him on import.
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Sturgeon ‘grief and regret’ over Salmond’s case
The harassment committee has reached its conclusions by majority vote before the publication of its final report next week.
Members have decided that the Scottish Prime Minister misled the committee itself and, as such, duped parliament and potentially violated the ministerial code of conduct.
The pressure on Ms Sturgeon to resign has increased. His opponents have repeatedly made the accusation that, by misleading parliament, he violated the ministerial code.
The code dictates that any minister who knowingly committed an offense must resign.
However, Sky News understands that the word “knowingly” was not included in the text agreed by the committee.
Its members decided by majority that they were deceived by the prime minister.
He appeared before them earlier this month to give oral testimony and, prior to that, made a written communication insisting that he had not offered to intervene in a government investigation into the harassment allegations made against his predecessor.
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‘Scotland’s leadership has failed’
However, Mr. Salmond insisted that he had, during a meeting at his home on April 2, 2018. His account was corroborated by Duncan Hamilton QC, his legal counsel, who was present at the meeting and wrote to the committee that Ms. Sturgeon had said, “If the time comes, I’ll step in.”
Speaking to Sky News last night, Ms. Sturgeon said: “I agree with all the tests I gave the committee, all the eight hour tests.
“What has become clear is that the opposition members of this committee decided on me before I murmured a single word of evidence, their public comments have made that clear.
“So this leak from the committee, a very partisan leak, tonight before they finalize the report is not that surprising.”
The committee’s finding, approved by a majority, says:
“The committee notes that there is a fundamental contradiction in the evidence regarding whether or not, at the April 2, 2018 meeting, the prime minister agreed to intervene.
“Considering the competing versions of the event, the committee believes that, in fact, it left Alex Salmond with the impression that, if necessary, he would step in.
This is confirmed by Duncan Hamilton, who was also at the meeting. Your written evidence is therefore an inaccurate account of what happened and you have misled the committee on this matter.
“This is a possible violation of the ministerial code under the terms of section 1.3 (c).”
Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that he first learned of the complaints against Salmond at the April 2, 2018 meeting. Sky News subsequently released an account by Geoff Aberdein, Salmond’s former chief of staff, of a meeting four days earlier, on March 29, 2018, which suggested that the complaints were then discussed.
Sturgeon misled the Scottish Parliament in its evidence on the Salmond investigation (below), a committee has found
On this contradiction, the committee concluded, by majority, that:
“The fact that the prime minister does not remember the meeting (of March 29) and her account contradicts Alex Salmond.
“The committee agrees that there may be different memories of this meeting.
“He is not in a position to comment on whether the prime minister’s version or Geoff Aberdein’s version is more persuasive. He points out that the former prime minister has the benefit of confirmation.”
About the prime minister’s contact with her predecessor following complaints filed against him by two officials, the Holyrood committee was “concerned”.
Sturgeon had two phone calls and three meetings with Salmond in 2018 after the complaints were received. Having initially met Salmond on April 2, 2018, it was not until June of that year that he told his government’s permanent secretary about the contact.
The majority-voted passage in the committee report reads:
“The committee is concerned that the prime minister took until June 6, 2018 to inform the permanent secretary of the fact of the meetings (with Alex Salmond).
“Given the sensitivity, the committee believes it was inappropriate for the prime minister (Alex Salmond) to continue meeting on this issue.
“He should have informed the permanent secretary as soon as possible after the April 2, 2018 meeting, at which point he should have confirmed that he would stop contacting Alex Salmond.”
Committee members received evidence during their investigation from civil service unions that raised concerns about bullying behavior in 2010 in the office of then-Prime Minister Mr. Salmond.
Their findings state:
“The committee finds it hard to believe that the prime minister was unaware of any concerns about inappropriate behavior by Alex Salmond prior to November 2017.
“If he had such knowledge, then he should have acted on it. If he had such knowledge, he has misled the committee.”
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SNP MP: Salmond’s investigation is ‘horrendous’
Holyrood’s harassment committee, made up of 4 SNP MSPs and five opposition members, is due to publish its findings, in full, early next week.
His investigation has been looking into the Scottish government’s mishandling of a 2018 investigation into allegations of harassment against Salmond.
He challenged its legality and a court ruled that it was “illegal” and “tainted by apparent prejudice.” Salmond was subsequently acquitted of the sexual assault charges in a criminal trial in March 2020.
The Holyrood committee’s role has been to consider and report on the actions of the Prime Minister, Scottish government officials and special advisers.
He has examined the development of government policy regarding harassment, events related to the judicial review of Mr. Salmond and the handling of complaints, as well as matters related to the ministerial code.
Sturgeon faces a separate investigation into whether he violated the ministerial code.
James Hamilton, Ireland’s former head of public prosecution, is due to publish the results of his investigation in the coming days.
Mr. Hamilton is an independent Scottish government advisor on the code and has been conducting research following Ms. Sturgeon’s self-referral amid questions about what he knew and when.
