Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Seven questions raised by Peter Murrell’s Salmond inquiry evidence

Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell (photo: Getty)

Peter Murrell, the most powerful man in Scotland, gave evidence under oath to the Alex Salmond inquiry on Tuesday. The SNP chief executive (and husband to Nicola Sturgeon) made a number of statements that already are under scrutiny, and others that soon may be.

1) Why doesn’t Sturgeon and Murrell’s evidence match up?

Central to the committee’s attempts to shed light on Nicola Sturgeon’s actions has been trying to establish where she considers her role as SNP leader to end and her role as Scottish First Minister to begin. In her written submission to the inquiry, Sturgeon said she agreed to meet Salmond at her home on April 2, 2018 because:

‘I thought Mr Salmond may be about to resign from the SNP and that, as a result of this or other aspects of how he intended to handle the matter he was dealing with, the party could have been facing a public/media issue that we would require to respond to. As Party Leader, I considered it important that I knew if this was in fact the case in order that I could prepare the party to deal with what would have been a significant issue.’

When Murrell was asked in what role Sturgeon held the meetings, he told the committee: ‘I was not aware of the capacity in which she was having those meetings.’ However, in an earlier written submission he said of the April 2 meeting: ‘The nature of Nicola’s job means that when she tells me she can’t discuss something, I don’t press it’ and confirmed that ‘Nicola’s job’ referred to her role as First Minister.

Committee member Jackie Baillie pointed out the apparent conflict in these assertions. Sturgeon said she met Salmond as party leader. Murrell implied she had met him as First Minister. Murrell rejected the suggestion their evidence was at odds but, as Baillie put it: ‘It is in black and white and the record will show that.’

2) What’s up with WhatsApp?

Murrell was questioned by Baillie about the existence of a WhatsApp group.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in