Opposition parties have united to call for a probe into Nicola Sturgeon over the Alex Salmond case to include “bombshell” claims she misled Holyrood.
Labour, Tory and Lib Dems MSPs have demanded that ex-prosecutor James Hamilton’s investigation is expanded after Salmond accused his successor of breaching the ministerial code.
A special Holyrood Inquiry is examining how in 2018 the Scottish Government bungled sexual misconduct complaints against the former First Minister.
Salmond lodged a judicial review and it was accepted that the Government probe, which cost the taxpayer over £500,00, had been unlawful.
The fiasco destroyed the friendship between Sturgeon and Salmond, whose allies believe he was targeted by the Government and SNP figures.
Hamilton, a former director of public prosecutions in Ireland, is leading a separate probe into whether Sturgeon broke her own ministerial code.
This relates to meetings and phone calls Sturgeon had with Salmond in the middle of her Government’s sexual misconduct investigation.
The pair met at Sturgeon’s home on April 2nd, 2018, but the First Minister said she forgot about an earlier meeting with Salmond’s former chief of staff days earlier.
In a so-called “bombshell” submission by Salmond to Hamilton, he accused his one-time protege of multiple breaches of the code.
These include her “failure” to account for the March 29th meeting to Parliament, and her “repeated representation” of April 2nd as a “party” meeting.
A spokesman for Sturgeon responded by saying she “entirely rejected” Salmond’s claims of breaching the code.
Salmond also criticised the “tightly drafted” terms of reference for the Hamilton probe, but suggested the ex-prosecutor is “inclined” to consider the points he raised.
In a letter to Deputy First Minister John Swinney, four members of the Holyrood Inquiry - Jackie Baillie, Alex Cole-Hamilton, Margaret Mitchell and Murdo Fraser - wrote that it is “vital” the Hamilton investigation is “expanded”.
They wrote: “Mr Salmond’s submission raises many questions, some are beyond the scope of our inquiry, but they are clearly at odds with the account of events offered to Parliament by the First Minister.”
The MSPs continued: “When asked previously, both yourself and the First Minister have repeatedly suggested that James Hamilton QC is at liberty to expand the remit of his inquiry should the evidence require it.
“However, we understand that as he engaged in a quasi-judicial process, he cannot indulge in mission creep and that the remit may only be formally expanded by an official directive from your government.”
Cole-Hamilton said: “If the First Minister has been honest with parliament, she has nothing to fear from widening this probe and everything to gain in putting the matter to rest.”
Fraser said: "For all of John Swinney’s protestations, no formal directive has been forthcoming from him to allow this investigation’s remit to be expanded.
“In light of the latest allegations from the former First Minister, he must give that directive urgently.
“Only then will we get to the bottom of exactly what Nicola Sturgeon knew about the accusations against her predecessor."
In an interview with the BBC, Swinney said Sturgeon looked forward to putting to rest some of the “absolute nonsense” that has been circulating.
On calls for the terms of reference to be widened, he said it had been made clear last year that Hamilton could look at “any aspect of a potential breach of the ministerial code”.
