James Hamilton’s investigation into whether Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code will focus on what she knew and when about the Scottish government’s investigation into sexual harassment allegations made by two female civil servants against former first minister Alex Salmond. It has been taking evidence in private.
29 March 2018 Nicola Sturgeon meets Geoff Aberdein, Salmond’s former chief of staff, in her Holyrood office. She has since described the meeting as “fleeting”, saying she had forgotten about it. Salmond, Aberdein and now two other witnesses say the Scottish government’s inquiry into sexual harassment allegations against Salmond was discussed four days earlier than Sturgeon said she knew about them, and that the name of one of the complainers was revealed to Aberdein.
2 April Sturgeon meets Salmond at her home. She originally told Holyrood and the media that this was when she first learned that he faced allegations of sexual misconduct. In her oral evidence to the inquiry, she said that this was the meeting where she heard about the substance of the allegations – “a moment in my life I will never forget” – instead of a vaguer reference to a “harassment-type incident” at the Holyrood meeting.
Salmond has alleged that Sturgeon left him “in no doubt” at that meeting that she was going to intervene in the complaints process, while Sturgeon had denied this. Salmond’s lawyer Duncan Hamilton has now repeated Salmond’s version of events to a Holyrood committee.
6 June Sturgeon has said that this is when she first told Leslie Evans, the permanent secretary, that she knew about the internal inquiry into the harassment claims and had been discussing it with Salmond. In oral evidence, she explained she did not notify the civil service earlier because of her view that “by telling people in the government that I know would potentially compromise the independence and confidentiality.”
29 August Salmond formally begins his judicial review of the Scottish government’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints against him.
31 October Roddy Dunlop QC, then senior counsel for the Scottish government, warns them that the revelation that a senior official had previously met and briefed the two complainers was “extremely concerning”.
6 December Evans is warned by Dunlop that Salmond’s legal challenge would “more likely than not succeed”, because of this conflict of interest involving the investigating officer.
31 December Evans decides to concede the judicial review.
8 January 2019 The court of session declares the inquiry unlawful on procedural grounds and “tainted with apparent bias”. Salmond is awarded £512,000 in legal costs.
13 January 2019 Sturgeon refers herself to the independent ministerial ethics body after opposition parties raise grave concerns about her admissions she met Salmond and discussed the harassment investigation with him at her home and over the phone
24 January 2019 Salmond is charged with 14 sexual assault offences, including one of attempted rape.
23 March 2020 He is acquitted on all charges at the high court in Edinburgh.
22 March 2021 Report by James Hamilton is published: it clears Sturgeon of breaching the ministerial code following allegations she failed to record meetings with Salmond and others in 2018. He also examined the allegation that Sturgeon misled Parliament in relation to the meetings, again finding there was no breach of the code.
23 March 2021 The report of the Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish government’s handling of the original sexual harassment allegations is published. Th committee found by a narrow majority vote that Sturgeon misled the Scottish parliament, by giving an “inaccurate” account of her meetings with Salmond in 2018 during her evidence, but stopped short of ruling she did so “knowingly”. Knowingly misleading parliament would be a clear breach of the ministerial code and a resignation matter.
The Scottish Conservatives are planning to bring a vote of no confidence against Sturgeon on Tuesday, the second last day of the Holyrood session before the election campaign begins.
