To Glasgow’s Science Centre, where on Saturday Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond brought together a whole host of pro-indy voices for a nationalist natter. Featuring former SNP MPs Joanna Cherry, Alex Neil and Dr Philippa Whitford as well as online blogger Stuart Campbell (aka. Wings Over Scotland), Salmond’s ‘The Ayes Still Have It!’ was presented to an enthusiastic crowd. But for Mr S, there was one interview in particular that rather stood out…
SNP MSP Fergus Ewing has made headlines in recent months for his overt criticism of his own party – and on Saturday, the Inverness and Nairn politician was certainly pulling no punches. Bringing his segment to a close in a typically unforgettable fashion, Ewing turned to the matter of Salmond’s legal case against the Scottish government over the handling of sexual misconduct allegations made against him. The backbencher has previously claimed that ‘at least six senior officials in the Scottish civil service, and current or former special advisers’ have questions to answer over the matter – and on Saturday insisted there remain ‘the gravest of questions to answer’ about Salmond’s treatment by the SNP lot. The Nairn MSP added that the former FM was:
…the subject of a concerted deliberate campaign, with the avowed intent and declaration of war no less by the permanent secretary to ensure that this man was prosecuted and jailed – and I think ladies and gentlemen that is the scandal of our age. Many other people here, and who are not here, are determined to devote every living breath to bringing about truth and justice for Alex Salmond.
Shots fired…
In a nod to other Salmond supporters, the Highland MSP also paid tribute to the Wings Over Scotland blog – to which Ewing claimed ‘we’re all indebted in many ways’ – before heaping praise on Salmond’s current lawyer, Gordon Dangerfield. Salmond was acquitted of 14 sexual assault charges in 2020, and alleged at the time that there was a conspiracy against him led by senior SNP figures close to his successor Nicola Sturgeon. For her part, the SNP’s Dear Leader has strenuously denied being part of any cover-up.
Ewing’s latest party-bashing comments accompany his rather fiery column in the weekend’s Scottish Mail on Sunday about the ongoing police probe into the SNP. The veteran politician raged that the Nats will remain ‘stuck in a rut’ until they explain firstly where the ‘missing’ £600,000 of Indyref2 donation money has ended up and secondly why the party bought, er, a £110,000 luxury motorhome. ‘Who, for example, in business will donate money to a party which is under investigation for alleged financial fraud?’ he fumed. ‘Virtually no one – as the past 18 months have already proven.’ Quite.
The outspoken backbencher isn’t the only pro-indy politician to have taken aim at his party in recent months, of course. The SNP saw electoral disaster in July’s election, and a number of ex-MPs ousted in July have gloomily told Mr S that they believe Scottish Labour will win the looming 2026 Holyrood election too. Others – including deputy leader Keith Brown and veteran MP Pete Wishart – have even started to make noises about working with Salmond’s SNP-bashing separatist party. Desperate times call for desperate measures, eh?
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