Alex Salmond’s appearance at the Holyrood Inquiry today will be one of the most remarkable moments since devolution.
The Parliament has witnessed extraordinary events over the last 20 years, but they pale in comparison to Salmond’s oral evidence session.
As a politician, Salmond was adept at getting the SNP’s message across in opposition and in Government.
His genius for publicity allowed him to elbow his way into front line Scottish politics in 1990 and he has stayed there ever since.
However, the former First Minister has been quiet over the last two years – an unusual state for him.
In 2019, his legal challenge to the Government’s botched sexual misconduct probe into him was successful but within days, he was charged with sexual offences.
Although he was acquitted last year, he has said almost nothing following a brief statement on the steps of Edinburgh’s High Court.
That silence changed this week when his most controversial submission to the Holyrood Inquiry – set up to investigate the disastrous Government probe – was published.
His oral evidence will expand on his incredible claims.
A key allegation centres on the meetings he had with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, his SNP protege, during the Government’s live investigation into him in 2018.
He claims Sturgeon misled Parliament in her account of these controversial summits and believes she breached
the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
But the most sensational claims are related to the people close to her, such as her husband Peter Murrell and chief of staff Liz Lloyd.
He alleges they were part of a “deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort” to damage his reputation and have him jailed. In Westmister terms, it would be like claiming that Boris Johnson’s partner had plotted to have Theresa May imprisoned.
Salmond also has the Crown Office, which he says has refused to release the evidence backing up his claims, in his sights, writing in his submission: “The Crown Office under current leadership is a department simply not fit
for purpose.
Salmond has the Government, the SNP and the legal establishment in his line of fire. So, what is his end
game?
Another part of his submission offers a clue as to his intention: “No one in this entire process has uttered the simple words which are necessary on occasions to renew and refresh democratic institutions – ‘I resign’.”
We know Salmond wants Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans to quit but the lingering suspicion is
he desires a much more significant scalp.
