Alex Salmond has been cleared of sexual assault following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. The jury returned this afternoon and found the former First Minister not guilty of 12 charges and resorted to Scotland’s special not proven verdict on a 13th allegation. Salmond’s twin defences were that the claims against him were ‘exaggerations’ (he wasn’t perfect but he had never done anything criminal) or ‘deliberate fabrications for a political purpose’ (he was the victim of a conspiracy).
In private, much of the Scottish political and media class already had him hanged, drawn and quartered and so this verdict is being met with a mixture of shock, horror and contempt. But the law is the law and the law says he didn’t do it. The consequences of this are far-reaching. Salmond is not a man who parts with grudges readily. The reckoning that is about to hit will make the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs look like a pebble dropped in a puddle.
For one thing, Salmond may be able to revive his political career. He is still beloved by the grassroots of the SNP and a substantial flourish of the population regards him as a hero. He brought Scottish nationalism and the cause of independence to its greatest height so far. He connects with blue-collar Scots in that visceral way that Trump connects with Americans in the heartland and Boris with C2s in the Midlands and the North. He is from the anti-establishment wing of the establishment, a careerist rebel in the cause of the nation.
There are several options open to him now. He could apply to resume his membership of the SNP or convince a sympathetic backbencher to step down and return to Holyrood. There he could bide his time while his protege and successor Nicola Sturgeon endures a forthcoming parliamentary inquiry into her government’s handling of the allegations against him.
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