Nicola Sturgeon came under fire at First Ministers’ Questions today, with Ruth Davidson interrogating the SNP leader over David Davis’ bombshell on Tuesday night. Davidson asked if, as Davis claimed, a legal document was suppressed by government officials in the course of Mr Salmond’s judicial review in late 2018. Sturgeon replied that by reading out ‘his old pal Alex Salmond’s conspiracy theories about the sexual harassment allegations against him’ Davis was representing ‘the very epitome of the old boys club.’ She added that ‘anyone who chooses to cheer that on should not pretend to have the interests of the women concerned at heart.’
Strong stuff from the First Minister — though Mr S is unsure whether it would be accurate to describe Salmond and Davis as ‘old pals.’ Unsurprisingly Davis has now responded to the Scottish government’s statement which ‘absolutely refutes the allegation that civil servants sought to obstruct or show contempt for the court process.’ Referring to the government’s own submission from its lead counsel Roddy Dunlop QC on 17 December 2018, Davis pointed out on Twitter the following quote:
We have each experienced extreme professional embarrassment as a result of assurances which we have given, both to our opponents and to the court, which assurances have been given on instructions, turning out to be false as a result of the revelation of further documents, highly relevant yet undisclosed.
He added: ‘So draw your own conclusions on whether or not the Scottish government was obstructing the court.’ Checkmate Nicola?
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