Alex Salmond sexual harassment scandal

Alex Salmond scandal
Former First Minister Alex Salmond and his successor Nicola Sturgeon were at the centre of the political scandal.
Events
List Premiership of Nicola Sturgeon Internal investigation Judicial review HM Advocate v Salmond Hamilton inquiry Scottish Parliament Committee 2021 Scottish Parliament election Timeline of the Alex Salmond scandal
People
Scottish Government First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Deputy First Minster John Swinney Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans
Scottish Parliament Committee Convenor Linda Fabiani (SNP) Margaret Mitchell (Conservative Party) Alasdair Allan (SNP) Jackie Baillie (Labour) Alex Cole-Hamilton (Liberal Democrats) Murdo Fraser (Conservative) Alison Johnstone (Green) Stuart McMillan (SNP) Maureen Watt (SNP)
Scottish National Party Peter Murrell
Judiciary James Hamilton QC Elish Angiolini QC Lady Dorrian Gordon Jackson Shelagh McCall Alex Prentice
Related Alex Salmond
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This article is part of a series about Alex Salmond
Political positions Electoral History Scottish independence Social nationalism SNP (until 2018) Alba Party (since 2021) Leader of the SNP First Term 1990 SNP leadership election Scottish devolution 1999 election Second Term 2004 SNP leadership election First Minister of Scotland Premiership First Ministry 2007 election Free Tuition Fees Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's Release Glasgow Airport attack Free Prescription charges Second Ministry 2011 re-election 2014 European election 2014 referendum Resignation Post Premiership Alex Salmond scandal Leader of the Alba Party 2021 election Indyref2 UK General elections 1992 1997 2005 2010
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This article is part of a series about Nicola Sturgeon
Political positions Electoral history MSP for Glasgow Southside Deputy First Minister of Scotland Salmond Ministry 2004 deputy leadership election Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Tobacco sale restrictions Minimum unit pricing Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities Independence referendum Votes at 16 2014 Scottish independence referendum First Minister of Scotland First Ministry and Term 2014 leadership election Revenue Scotland LBTT SLfT Community right to buy Second Ministry and Term 2016 Scottish election Proposed second independence referendum Brexit referendum People's Vote Social Security Scotland Scottish National Investment Bank COVID-19 pandemic Third Ministry and Term 2021 Scottish election Bute House Agreement COP26 Ferry fiasco Operation Branchform Cost of living crisis Bin worker strikes ScotRail strikes 2023 proposed independence referendum 2022 Supreme Court referral Gender reform bill Resignation 2023 leadership election UK General elections 2015 2017 2019
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The Alex Salmond sexual harassment scandal was a political scandal in Scotland concerning the alleged conduct of former First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond while in office. From 2018, Salmond faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including sexual assault and attempted rape, but in 2020 was ultimately found not guilty on 12 charges, and not proven on one of sexual assault with intent to rape; one sexual assault charge was previously withdrawn by the Crown.^[1]

There was an associated feud within the SNP between Salmond and his supporters and Nicola Sturgeon and her supporters: Salmond has repeatedly claimed irregularities in the Scottish Government's investigation into his conduct, for which he was awarded damages in 2019. Nicola Sturgeon referred herself to an independent ethics inquiry to examine her own actions with respect to the allegations against Salmond, led by James Hamilton. A Parliamentary Committee was also convened to examine the government's handling of harassment complaints. The committee concluded that Nicola Sturgeon had misled parliament in her recounting of her knowledge of the complaints against Salmond, but the independent investigation into her conduct carried out by James Hamilton concluded that she did not break the ministerial code. Salmond subsequently joined the newly-founded Alba Party. Shortly thereafter, Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey, two SNP MPs, defected to the party along with several councillors.

Alex Salmond was twice leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP; 1990-2000, 2004-2014) and served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. After resigning in 2014, his Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, succeeded him as First Minister and leader of the SNP.

In January 2018, the Scottish Government received complaints of sexual misconduct by Salmond in 2013, while he was First Minister. These became public some months later. In August 2018, Salmond resigned from the SNP in the face of the allegations. In a statement he said that he wanted to avoid internal division within the party and intended to apply to rejoin the SNP once he had an opportunity to clear his name.^[2][3][4]

The Scottish Government began an internal investigation into the allegations against Salmond, of which Salmond was informed in March 2018.^[4] Judith McKinnon was appointed Investigating Officer (IO). It was subsequently revealed in Scottish Government legal advice published in 2022 that McKinnon had prior contact with the complainers and should not have been appointed to the case. Government procedures state the IO must have had "no prior involvement with any aspect of the matter being raised".^[5][6]

On 6 June 2018, with Salmond seeking a further meeting, Sturgeon informed the Scottish Government's Permanent Secretary, Leslie Evans, that she knew about the inquiry into harassment complaints, that she had discussed it with Salmond, and that he was considering legal action.^[4][7]

Salmond and Sturgeon were informed that the government's investigation was complete on 22 August 2018, with Leslie Evans telling them that she intended to make the fact of the complaints public. On 24 August 2018 the Daily Record exclusively reported that Salmond had been reported to the police over claims he sexually assaulted two Bute House staff members as First Minister. This was later established to be a potentially-unlawful leak of information, after investigations by the Scottish Government and the information commissioner failed to establish how the newspaper obtained the information. Salmond denied the allegations and criticised the handling of the investigation.^[4][8]

Salmond alleged serious irregularities in the Scottish Government's handling of accusations of sexual misconduct against him. His demand for a judicial review singled out the conduct of Leslie Evans, saying that the "procedure as put into operation by the permanent secretary is grossly unfair and therefore inevitably will lead to prejudicial outcomes". On 24 August, Nicola Sturgeon tweeted a statement confirming that complaints were made and investigated, stressing that while she had been "aware for some time of the fact of the investigation - initially from Alex Salmond - I have had no role in the process". She also stated that "this focus on process cannot deflect from the fact that complaints were made that could not be ignored or swept under the carpet". Leslie Evans said the government would "defend its position vigorously" - and claiming that Salmond's statement contained "significant inaccuracies which will be addressed in court".^[4]

On 30 August 2018, the same day of his resignation from the SNP, Salmond launched a crowdfunding appeal to pay for the legal costs of seeking a review into the fairness of the process by which the Scottish Government has handled the allegations.^[9] He closed the appeal two days later, on 1 September, after raising £100,000, double the amount he wanted to pay for his legal costs.^[10]

On 31 August, the then-senior counsel for the government, Roddy Dunlop QC, warned the government that revelations that the Investigating Officer (IO), Judith McKinnon, had previously met and briefed the two complainers were "extremely concerning": "I am not suggesting bad faith on the part of anyone, least of all Ms McKinnon," Dunlop warned in legal advice to the government that was ultimately published in 2022. "But the fact remains that the procedure indicates – to my mind, at last, that she was not eligible to be appointed as IO. If I am right in that regard then arguably that infects all that followed thereon."^[1][11][6]

On 14 September, Police Scotland confirmed that it has launched a separate investigation into the complaints.^[4]

In December 2018, Dunlop warned Leslie Evans that Salmond's legal challenge would "more likely than not succeed", and on 31 December, Evans chose to concede the judicial review.^[11][6]

On 8 January 2019, the Court of Session, Scotland's supreme civil court, convened a hearing where the Scottish Government conceded defeat. The Scottish Government admitted that it should not have appointed an investigating officer who had "prior involvement" in the case. It did not agree that the IO had been "assisting the complainers" or "giving them encouragement". The Court declared the inquiry unlawful on procedural grounds, and awarded Salmond £512,000 in legal costs. The Court of Session's judgement did not have any bearing on an ongoing police investigation into the allegations against Salmond.^[4][5][12]

Salmond said in response to the verdict, "While I am glad about the victory which has been achieved today, I am sad that it was necessary to take this action." The Scottish Government's complaints process was ruled to be "unlawful", "procedurally unfair" and "tainted by apparent bias". The Scottish Government later conceded that its procedures had been flawed and paid Salmond's legal expenses following the ruling.^[13] Legal bills cost the taxpayer £630,773, made up of a £512,250 settlement to Salmond from public funds for his legal costs, and the Scottish Government’s own legal costs of £118,523.^[14] Salmond said on his crowdfunding page following the verdict, "Some people are clearly very anxious to remove me now as a political threat which is why this is probably not over. The Daily Record boasted of a "tip off" about me in October 2017. The question is from who? Perhaps we are now getting very close to finding out." Salmond asked Leslie Evans to consider her position. In response, Evans stated that, "There is nothing to suggest that the investigating officer did not conduct their duties in an impartial way". She also said that the complaints the government had received in January 2018 had not been withdrawn, so it was possible that the investigation could be re-opened once the police probe had run its course.^[15][5][16]

In response to questions from opposition leaders in the Scottish Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon denied any suggestion of a conspiracy against Salmond. Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: "[Sturgeon's] position appears to be a meeting between the first minister of the government and the former first minister of the government, about a government investigation involving two government employees, was not government business. In effect, Alex Salmond has had a series of private audiences with the woman at the head of the very organisation that's supposed to be investigating him over sexual harassment complaints". Sturgeon said in response, "It seems to me that I am being simultaneously accused of being involved in a conspiracy against Alex Salmond, and also of colluding with Alex Salmond. Nothing could be further from the truth in both of those - neither of those things are true."^[15]

On 24 January 2019, Police Scotland arrested Salmond. He was charged with 14 offences, including two counts of attempted rape, nine of sexual assault, two of indecent assault, and one of breach of the peace.^[17][18]

In a High Court case, HM Advocate v Salmond, Salmond appeared in court on 21 November and entered a plea of "not guilty". The trial started on 9 March 2020.^[13]

It was alleged that Alex Salmond tried to rape a woman in Bute House after a private dinner in June 2014.^[19][20] She had not mentioned this incident when she first talked to police in 2018. It was further claimed that women were banned from working alone with Salmond within the Scottish civil service.^[21]

During the trial, the defence claimed that the married Mr Salmond, characterised as "touchy-feely", who admitted to sexual contact with two of the complainants, both junior to him and much younger, could act inappropriately, and led witnesses who called him "extraordinarily pugnacious" and "extremely demanding".^[22] Salmond said he wished he had been "more careful" around others' personal space.^[23]

On 23 March, Salmond was found not guilty on 12 charges, and not proven on one of sexual assault with intent to rape; one sexual assault charge was previously withdrawn by the Crown.^[1]

In January 2019, Nicola Sturgeon referred herself to an independent ministerial ethics body to investigate her actions with respect to the allegations against Salmond. This followed her admitting that she had a secret meeting and subsequent phone call with Salmond about the Scottish government's allegations against him. She raised these with Leslie Evans two months later, rather than reporting them immediately, as she should if they constitute government matters (as per the Ministerial Code). Sturgeon argued that the meetings were SNP party matters, and thus not covered.

The investigating panel consisted of Dame Elish Angiolini, a former Solicitor General for Scotland and lord advocate, and James Hamilton, a former director of public prosecutions in the Republic of Ireland.^[24] Hamilton was investigating whether Sturgeon breached the ministerial code^[25] in her role in the Scottish Government's investigation into sexual harassment complaints made against Salmond.^[26] This was paused in 2019 and resumed in August 2020.^[27] On 22 March 2021, his report was published, concluding that Sturgeon did not breach the ministerial code.^[28] Hamilton, however, expressed frustration that several sections of his report were heavily-redacted.^[29]

On 15 January 2019 the Scottish Parliament agreed to hold its own inquiry into the matter.^[30] The Scottish Parliament set up the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints^[31] to investigate how the Government breached its own guidelines in its original investigation into the harassment claims against Salmond, and then lost a judicial review into their actions and had to pay over £500,000 to Salmond for legal expenses.^[25] A political row developed over what evidence to this committee Salmond could present.^[25][32]

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon initially told parliament that she had first heard of the complaints against Salmond when he told her of them on 2 April 2018.^[25] However, 18 months later, she revised her account, saying she had forgotten about an earlier meeting, on 29 March 2018, in which Salmond's former chief of staff Geoff Aberdein told her about the complaints.^[25] Critics have described this as a possible breach of the ministerial code, which states that any minister who deliberately misleads parliament should resign.^[25] The 29 March meeting was not recorded: meetings on government business are meant to be recorded, but Sturgeon has said this is because it was an SNP meeting.^[25]

Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell, was called to this inquiry to give evidence on 8 December 2020.^[33] Opposition parties criticised Sturgeon on disparity and contradictions between the narratives of Murrell and herself.^[34]

Giving evidence in person in February 2021, Salmond claimed that senior figures in the Scottish Government and the SNP plotted to remove him from public life and to send him to prison.^[35] In his evidence to the committee, Salmond said there was "no doubt" that Sturgeon had broken the ministerial code in not revealing the 29 March meeting sooner and in not recording what was really a meeting about government business.^[25] Sturgeon denies any wrongdoing and disputes Salmond's allegations.^[25][35][32]

The Scottish Government consistently resisted publishing the legal advice it had received on the Salmond investigation, claiming legal privilege.^[36] On 4 November 2020, the Scottish Parliament voted 63-54 to demand the release of the Scottish Government's legal advice, which the Scottish Government ignored. This was described by the opposition parties in Holyrood as a "democratic outrage".^[37][38]

Finally, facing a vote of no confidence which all four opposition parties threatened to back, Deputy First Minister John Swinney agreed to release the Scottish Government's legal advice on 2 March 2021. Documents and emails showed that two people supported Salmond's assertion that the meeting of 2 April 2018 was convened as a government, not party, matter.^[39] The publication also backed up Salmond's allegation that the identity of one of his accusers had been passed to his former chief of staff, contradicting Sturgeon's statement that "to the very best of my knowledge I do not think that happened". The Scottish Government claimed that the advice showed that there was no malicious intent against Salmond; opposition parties claimed that it showed the Scottish Government handled the investigation into Salmond unlawfully, and that the government had pursued the legal case against Salmond after being advised by lawyers that it was likely to fail.^[6][39][40]

On 17 March 2021, David Davis MP used parliamentary privilege to criticise the Scottish Government's handling of allegations against Alex Salmond. Davis, a close personal friend of Salmond, told MPs during a Commons debate that there had been a "concerted effort" by SNP officials to encourage complainers to come forward, and that Sturgeon's chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, had been involved in the civil service investigation into Salmond in February 2018 – months before Nicola Sturgeon claimed to have known about the investigation. He told the House of Commons, "I have it on good authority that there exists from 6th Feb 2018 an exchange of messages between civil servants suggesting that the first minister's chief of staff is interfering in the complaints process against Alex Salmond. If true this suggests the chief of staff had knowledge of the case in February, not April as she has claimed." Nicola Sturgeon rejected Davis' claims, describing them as "the latest instalment of Alex Salmond's conspiracy theory," and re-iterated her confidence in Liz Lloyd.^[41][42]

On 19 March 2021, it was reported that a majority of MSPs on the Alex Salmond committee voted to affirm that Nicola Sturgeon misled the inquiry.^[43]

On 23 September 2021, Police Scotland announced that they were investigating the Daily Record's 28 August 2018 report on the allegations against Salmond as a potentially-unlawful leak of information. The investigation, codenamed Operation Newbiggin, ended on 14 March 2024 with no police action.^[8][44]

In April 2022, the Crown Office launched an investigation into allegations of perjury committed during Salmond's criminal trial. Salmond's lawyers wrote to prosecutors over concerns that evidence given in court contradicted statements later given to MSPs in the Holyrood inquiry. The Crown Office appointed an independent QC to probe the claims of perjury, along with a senior prosecutor.^[45]

On 24 November 2023, Salmond launched a new legal case against the Scottish Government, alleging misfeasance by civil servants over the mishandling of the harassment inquiry, seeking damages of up to £3 million.^[46][47] In a statement, Salmond said, "Despite the astonishing revelations of misfeasance contained in the eventual publication of the government's own legal advice, and despite the specific findings of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the conduct of the former Permanent Secretary and the former First Minister, not one single person has been held accountable. With this court action that evasion of responsibility ends." Given the ongoing Crown Office investigation into allegations of perjury, Salmond agreed to a sisting (pause) in proceedings until the investigation was completed.^[48]

On 6 December 2023, the Court of Session rejected a bid by the Scottish Government to prevent the publication of all evidence gathered by James Hamilton in his investigation into whether Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code over her conduct with Salmond.^[29]

On 18 July 2024, Sir David Davis MP, again using parliamentary privilege, named Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon's ex-chief of staff, as the person responsible for leaking the allegations against Salmond to the Daily Record in 2018.^[49]

• Timeline of the Alex Salmond scandal