The Alex Salmond Fit-Up 671


This new report is from a friend of impeccable credentials with whom I am collaborating; it reveals stunning new facts on the Alex Salmond affair:

Begins

I am an investigative journalist who has been researching the Alex Salmond case. I am not alone as there are to my knowledge at least three television programmes doing the same thing. I make no claim to be impartial, partially because of my sympathy towards the independence movement and partially because my previous work has dealt substantially with failings in the criminal justice system. As far as the criminal case against Alex Salmond is concerned I will not be able to publish or comment until it is over. However the expenses settlement last week of Alex Salmond’s successful civil action allows me , without any prejudice, to relate just a few the dramatic and deeply troubling things I have already discovered about the civil case.

This same opportunity for comment was taken up with gusto last week by the mainstream media in Scotland. Their coverage centred on the scale of the legal expenses agreed to be paid by the Scottish Government to Alex Salmond. This was followed up by the Sunday Mail and the Sunday Post last weekend with stories suggesting that Salmond’s lawyers might have been overcharging and blaming the Scottish Government for not having them independently audited.

True to form the unionist press have gloriously and entirely missed the point. The reason that the expenses were an eye watering £512,000 and change is that they were awarded by the Court largely on an “agent and client” basis. “Agent and client” is a punitive award used by the courts when the losing party to litigation has been causing the other unnecessary expense. It means that the victorious party (ie Salmond) is entitled to full expenses as opposed to the normal 60 per cent or so which accompanies victory. Having the expenses audited (or “taxed” in the legal parlance) is a complete red herring. No such process could set aside the decision of the court for that element of expenses which were awarded on an “agent and client” basis.

And so to the real story which is why the expenses were awarded by Lord Pentland in the Court of Session in this punitive manner. The likely reason lies in three equally devastating parts.

First Salmond won the action. The court found on the admission of the Government that the process against him was “unlawful” and “unfair” in that it had been “tainted by apparent bias”. Despite the attempted spin of Scottish Government Permanent Secretary, Leslie Evans, that all the mistakes had been an innocent and inadvertent error of process (a “muddle not a fiddle” as someone else famously said in another context) the statements in open court do not point to that nor does the complete collapse of the Government case. We should look rather to Salmond’s senior counsel Ronnie Clancy QC and his comments in open court that the behaviour of the Government’s Investigating Officer, was “bordering on encouragement”. In lay person’s terms it looks like Salmond was being fitted up by officials in the Government he once led with such distinction.

Second, we know that Lord Pentland in mid December 2018 granted a “Commission and Diligence”. This is a relatively unusual legal process for forcing the recovery of key documents in a case. Pentland did this having previously warned the Government from the bench that as a public authority it would be expected that they would freely produce all relevant documents. That such a Commission was necessary to secure key documents should be a clear warning to the upcoming Scottish parliamentary investigative committee, already concerned with suggestions that e mails may have been deleted. We have no way of knowing what came out of these hearings except that top civil servants were compelled to appear under oath and be questioned. I do know that Evans appeared before the Commission as did Investigating Officer Judith Mackinnon. I also know that Nicola Sturgeon’s Chief of Staff, a Ms Elizabeth Lloyd, was due to appear when the Scottish Government suddenly decided to collapse the case on January 3rd 2019. Finally we know that when Ronnie Clancy QC appeared in the Court of Session he had a large folder of killer documents to underline his case. Incidentally all of the expenses for this Commission and all other court hearings are part of the Salmond expenses award.

Thirdly and finally my researches point to a group within the Scottish Government who had been been established to defend the Judicial Review. I know that it either met with, or conferenced called, external legal counsel a minimum of seventeen times between August 2017 and January 2018. It featured key civil servants familiar with the case. It was this group who likely decided to prolong the legal action when they , by definition, must have known that they would lose spectacularly once the compromising information and revealing documents were forced into disclosure through the Commission process. I believe that the aforesaid Elizabeth Lloyd was a member of this group, an absolutely key issue which , when confirmed, will open a range of pointed questions, the most fundamental of which is what on earth a political appointee was doing on a civil service group charged with the defence of a legal action? The further interesting and devastating question will be what exactly did this group, or others taking the key decisions, possibly hope to gain by prolonging a legal action and running up the clock at such gigantic public expense?

Perhaps the full answer to these questions will have to await developments but answers there will have to be. For the moment let us content ourselves with this observation. Regardless of anything else, how on earth can a Permanent Secretary who, by her own admission and a Court of Session judgement , presided over an “unlawful” process still be in her position and who exactly is to be held accountable for the unnecessary loss to the public purse thus far of a minimum of £600,000?

All of my journalistic life I have campaigned for justice and equality including across race class and gender. However, without proper process there can be no justice. And from what I already know, some of which can print, and a lot more I can’t reveal as yet, this entire process against Salmond, already judged unlawful in the highest court in the land, stinks to high heaven.

Ends

The Salmond Affair indeed stinks to high heaven and no aspect of it stinks more than the role in steering the affair, throughout, of Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s Chief of Staff. Lloyd is also known to be personally friendly with David Clegg of the Daily Record who published what were claimed to be leaked details of one of the “allegations” against Salmond.

I am not amongst those who has faith in the fairness of the police and prosecutorial system in Scotland. In my view, the centralisation of Police Scotland made it highly susceptible to political influence. I recall the case of my friend the estimable Michelle Thomson, who was announced by the Police as under investigation for mortgage fraud, which “under investigation” status lasted for over two years, until Thomson was obliged to stand down at the 2017 general election. Yet the facts of the case were extremely simple, and would have taken two days, maximum, to clear up if the investigation had been genuine. After two years of being “under investigation”, in which entire time she was never even interviewed, Police Scotland announced there was no case to answer. By then the job was done and she was out of parliament.

Police Scotland put 22 officers full time into trying to dig up historic dirt on Salmond. I have personally seen a statement from a woman who was astonished to be interviewed by Police Scotland after having been seen, years ago, to have a greeting peck on the cheek from her friend Alex at a public function. This has been the biggest, and most maliciously motivated, fishing expedition in Scottish police history.

The Salmond case aside (phrase inserted on legal advice!), it ought to be a public scandal that the procurator fiscal can arraign and parade a person in public and charge them with grievous offences, then delay matters for months and years while attempting to somehow cobble together the pile of mince they have as “evidence” into some sort of case. Justice delayed is justice denied.

Meantime the parties behind the Salmond case can hide indefinitely from investigation on the pretext that it would prejudice a so-called independent criminal process.

There is one question to the Scottish government which from my own certain knowledge (which I cannot publish pending the never-never trial) would bust the entire Salmond affair wide open:
Could you please detail every contact between Liz Lloyd and Police Scotland anent Alex Salmond?
They will refuse to answer the question so long as the so-called “criminal case” is pending. Expect it to be pending for a very long time.

Meantime, as the above account makes crystal clear, we have a judicial ruling that the Scottish Government engaged in a process that was unlawful and had every appearance of bias. They persisted recklessly in that unlawful course of action and eventually cost the Scottish taxpayer over £600,000. Yet none of those responsible for these unlawful actions – Leslie Evans, Judith Mackinnon and Liz Lloyd – has been sacked. That fact is indicative of monumental arrogance right at the heart of Holyrood.


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671 thoughts on “The Alex Salmond Fit-Up

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  • Bill

    The Scottish government throws away 600k due to incompetence. How much has it thrown away at Ferguson Shipbuilders, how many millions ?? Yet some bampots think we can afford to be independent.We will need to be going to Borris for a loan. You SNP lot waken up, you couldn’t run a kiddies party

    • Dom

      If you think Boris Johnson is a model of competence suggest you Google “garden bridge” or “Emirates air line”.

    • VALERIE RETTIE

      Stop being so pathetic Bill.The SG LOST their case & had to pay up! If your precious Union Gov were to bail out Fergusons would you still gripe, or is just that you cannot abide the SNP not matter what? Boris & Co already have Scotland paying for their loans. Money spent by the Tories outside Scotland like HS2..you are paying for that, Bojos’ failed garden bridge, failed Brexit Ferries cotract, P&O sued them for £33m. The entire Brexit spend? you will be paying that back for centuries if you wish to stay in the Union! You crib is not really about money… it is just Scotland bad, SNPs bad. Your precious UK Gov tried to set up AS & it has cost YOU! They will not be done yet so be prepared to spend even more. How does the world look from down on your knees Bill? You should try standing tall & looking a fantastic country in Scotland you have & maybe you would see it is worth fighting to save it from Tory punder & death?

      • Fiona

        We need a LIKE button on these posts! Bill is certainly on his knees and they’re dripping with blood! Where is his self respect? If Bill actually believes that he is a subsidy junkie he ought to feel highly embarrassed! Down in England the people have to pay the bedroom tax whereas here in Scotland, no one pays it. But Bill thinks it’s ok to take the food out of the childrens mouths to subsidise him all because he lives in Scotland….that much loved ‘region’ of the UK? I wonder why Westminster would do that? It’s pathetic Bill. Open your EYES! and get off your knees!

    • kathy

      Not only is Ferguson Shipbuilders essential for Scotland in the light (sarcasm intended) of Brexit to release us from the English stranglehold regarding the importation of essential supplies, but it has been well-costed and is completely feasible – take your lies and insults elsewhere you fool.

      • alwi

        And we cannot allow our shipbuilding and other major engineering concerns to be deliberately dismantled – it is essential that capability is retained.

    • Doug

      The so-called united kingdom is a world-wide laughing stock. Johnson is liar and a charlatan. For all our sakes Scotland must end this pointless union with England.

    • Alistair Shuttleworth

      In an independent Scotland we can elect and remove those in parliament. That’s the big difference.

      • Muscleguy

        Not under the present electoral system if they are put high up on the party List. See Murdo Fraser of the Tories, he has never won a direct election for anything in his life but despite being repeatedly rejected by the electorate he squats in our parliament because the Scots Tories put him high up on the regional list.

    • Terence callachan

      Bob, what a silly statement you made, saving the last shipyard in Scotland thus ensuring that the ships it is building for Scotland’s island ferry service is a magnificent move by the Scottish government.
      The British nationalists working away like busy bees within Scotland to try and undermine the Scottish government and Alex Salmond will ultimately fail because of their corruption.

      Bye bye england ,Scotland will take back control of all of its government and expel those shysters involved in this sordid affair, where will they go ? perhaps you can find them a job.

      Westminster’s representatives in Scotland show how corrupt and ill equipped they are week in week out.

      As for getting a loan from Boris sounds like you got a loan of his common sense to make your post.
      A kiddies party is exactly what Boris is running the tories are all thick as clotted cream

    • archibald george

      bill try using your little brain for more than a door stop please have a nice scottish day

    • Raymond Reid

      600k,BILL,small peanuts compared to the money the Tories have wasted on useless ventures going nowhere,waken up son and smell the coffee, Scotland will be a rich country without England.

    • Kev

      Scot gov didn’t spend any money . The bill goes to the Scottish office . It’s fluffy Mendel and his band of muppets who faked up . Typical unresearch unionist garbage. SNP bad.

  • Rhys Jaggar

    Is it legally permissible for Alex Salmond to take the Scottish Government to court for ‘continuing to employ, at huge expense to the taxpayer, a woman clearly unfit to hold senior office based on malicious, unfounded, unprofessional and uncorroborated lying leading to Establishment witch hunting, causing ongoing reputational damage inconsistent with Scotland having a free and democratic society underpinned by an upright and honourable police system and an independent and rigorous judical system and Procurator Fiscal officialdom’?

    At the very least it could engage in timely smearing and hounding of senior Government offficials, most of whom just happen to be women…

    Dear me….

    • Terry callachan

      Well said Rhys , the thing is the three women involved at the top of this investigation have worked together in other employments in the past , they’ve been found out, I think personally that they wanted Alex Salmond out of the picture for brexit and thought brexit would be done and dusted in a year or so, it hasn’t, it’s still unresolved three years later so these three women acting on behalf of Westminster have been involved with others in delaying tactics knowing that they will lose the court case but the aim is to keep Alex Salmond out of the brexit debate until brexit is delivered.That they will achieve.
      Thereafter where will they go once the case against Alex Salmond is lost.

      • Antonym

        Yes, pliable women are the new weapons of choice for Deep states: MeToo! Perfect to cut off independent candidates who don’t toe The Line. Sell them under the anti-misogyny banner / equality to bypass quality scales.
        Killary Clinton was to be WMD no.1 but only dud May could be launched successfully.
        Next are girls like Malala or Greta.

  • kathy

    I never doubted Alex was fitted up and even contributed to his crowdfunded legal expenses. Now I feel completely vindicated. It will be an interesting read.

    • N_

      From the moment you first heard that allegations had been made about him, did you ever have any doubt that he was completely innocent of every single one of them and that the allegations were a Unionist plot to discredit a man who, five years after he lost a referendum, was about to return and lead the independence movement to glorious victory in a rerun?

      • kathy

        Well, obviously, in the interests of impartiality, I had to look at it from all angles in order to come to a likely conclusion.

        On the basis, of Alex’s record, so far, i.e. despite the fact that the British State considered him an enemy, they never managed to pin anything on him and instead had to rely on ad hominen attacks on him such as comparing him to Shrek etc. to try and topple him. Also his innate integrity and decency shone through.

        Another aspect that did it for me also was that, despite the fact that, being such an intelligent man, he could have prospered in many other walks of life and all the other politcal parties would have grabbed him with both hands, he shunned all that, preferring instead to fight for the cause of Scottish independence even when it was a small “loony” unpopular party. Of course he was largely responsible for it becoming the huge success story it is today much to the envy of the unionist parties.

        So for me Alex Salmond is a true Scottish patriot and will no doubt eventually lead us to independence just like all the other Scottish heroes of the past.

        • Muscleguy

          We can always elect him President of Scotland if we pull finger and run a Republic campaign as soon as the Yes vote is secured.

          Wouldn’t it be delicious if that young eagle seen with the trap around his leg near Balmoral had been trapped on that estate?

  • Hetty

    I don’t know why but on reading that, Willie McRae sprang to mind. It would be too far too obvious these days.

    They can so easily place moles into a political party, the SNP is not immune to that.

    • Tony Little

      From the perspective of the UK Establishment, if the Security Services did NOT have people deep in the SNP and wider YES movement, they would be in dereliction of their responsibilities!

      Look at recent cases with the environmental movement and consider that an Independent Scotland would be the economic equivalent of the Iceberg hitting the Titanic. OF COURSE there are moles/agent provocateurs/agents/sleepers etc. in the movement, some of whom are likely to now be at the highest levels.

      “Conspiracy”? No, simply acknowledging the history of the UK. The question, of course, is quite how high it all goes?

      • Judith Jaafar

        Ministerial/cabinet level, I’m reliably informed. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer is the rationale. A day of reckoning will come.

      • The Blue Hackle Mafia

        They have always had figures in the SNP and Indy movement, check out An damhair I think it was callled on BBC Alba, speaks how the spooks tried to fight of Scottish Nationalism way back in the 50s and 60s, it’s one of the few BBC productions out there that has a shred of truth, and to anyone who doesn’t believe 77th will be brought against citizens of the UK, just think of Northern Ireland and 14int (The Detachment) and Special Branch against the republican movement more so than the loyalist ones

    • Robbie M

      Hetty, that’s exactly what I thought too. This is the 2019 version of the murder of Willie McRae. That opened a can of worms too. Those elites will never learn

      • Muscleguy

        I wouldn’t be too sure about Jenny Gilruth. Kez got axed in part because she kept showing sympathy for the idea of independence in the face of Brexit. I expect the effect was more the other way around. Kez jumped from politics when the pressures of the double life got too hard to bear.

  • Alan Stewart

    Well said. Having once been a police officer, I completely agree with your remarks on Police Scotland. I personally think they are a joke, you cannot phone your local police. As for Evan’s I believe she caused a lot of trouble while with Edinburgh Council.
    I too believe this has been a fit up against Alex and would love to see him back in active politics. Scotland needs him

    • Muscleguy

      Are you seriously saying I cannot ring the Dundee police station? what a stupid comment. Even before the unification of the forces a 999 call was a 999 call.

      I personally think both the police and fire service were unified to prevent balkanisation by unionists getting at local commanders after a successful Yes vote. After Castlereigh in Northern Ireland being allowed to raise a private army you cannot rule that stuff out. Pace them mulling over retaining Faslane and Coulport. Before saner minds pointed out how easily iScotland could blockade such an enclave. Couple of hulks sunk in the loch mouth, concrete blocks and razor wire at the gates. Second layer of fencing patrolled by Scottish troops. No overflights allowed. Starve the buggers out. Easy.

  • Doug

    “Yet none of those responsible for these unlawful actions – Leslie Evans, Judith Mackinnon and Liz Lloyd – has been sacked. That fact is indicative of monumental arrogance right at the heart of Holyrood.”

    Why haven’t they been sacked? Fear of the British nationalist media? Bloody better not be.

    • Terry Callachan

      They have not been sacked because the Scottish government will wait until the court makes its final decision and if as is widely thought , the three of them and others have been at the heart of a corruption they will not just be da led from their jobs, they will be charged with offences .
      Being charged with offences and sacked is more appropriate than just being sacked.
      Patience required for the final outcome.

      • Dungroanin

        They could at least be suspended (with full wages until the cases are resolved and they are cleared of wrongdoing before returning to their posts).

        Many professionals go through such process.

        Of course if they are culpable then they would have to repay everything.

  • Ronald Simpson

    A fascinating read which, in my opinion poses a number of questions which should be asked of all the people making the accusations.

  • Craigy

    And yet Sturgeon still remains in position. She was complete authority to sack t least one the trio of women implicated in this shambles, but steadfastly refused even to criticize. She is in this up to her neck. Shame on her!!

    • Republicofscotland

      This where we wait with bated breath, we know Salmond has called an indyref, and would do so again that’s probably why he’s been forced (For now anyway) out of the picture.

      I hope I’m very wrong on this, but we don’t know yet that Sturgeon will call, an indyref. The last I heard she was waiting for Westminster to yield on the matter to follow due procedure. To be fair there does look like some movement via the Electoral commission, and waiting for the outcome of Brexit seems a sensible move.

      I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt for now, however this Salmond fiasco doesn’t show her in a very good light. Crossing the Rubicon by calling an indyref with a date very soon after the Brexit outcome will alleviate a lot of folks fears that she’s not been gotten to.

      • Hatuey

        “waiting for the outcome of Brexit seems a sensible move.”

        Really? You really believe that?

        • Republicofscotland

          I’m under the impression that the polls would show a favourable swing towards independence on a no deal Brexit outcome combined with Boris Johnson as PM.

          Boris is already PM, and spouting his usual drivel, and it looks more than likely come the 31st of October that we will be out of the EU, and the Yes movement will see a significant move in its favour.

          • J Galt

            Which makes you wonder why the SNP leadership is doing everything it can to prevent it’s best recruiting sergeant for Independence – a no deal Brexit.

          • Muscleguy

            The polls have already moved, according to two we have a slim majority now. After an actual Brexit we will get a firm majority then it will snowball. Folk don’t like being on the wrong side of history and want to be on the winning side.

            Polls show only 30% are no surrender hard core unionists so we could get 70% with a long enough campaign and Brexit impacting people and Westminster incompetence glaring even more.

          • Hatuey

            Yes, Galt, fair point. The problem RoS and all of us have is that we can’t see what outcome an alternative SNP strategy might have had. The polls would have shifted towards independence naturally anyway — you can’t really put that down as a Sturgeon success.

  • Les Wilson

    This is a fit up, all to keep Alex out of politics until Indy ref2 is resolved, he is a threat to Westminster, that is the reason.
    It is a disgrace though that the public purse is paying Lesley Evans and the others involved in this debacle remain in place.
    At the end of the day I suspect the whole case will be dropped, but only after Indy2 is over.

  • Ian

    They must be close to contempt of court. If not, they are certainly in contempt of the Scottish Government and the Scottish people. So you would expect the sack at the very least, if not proceedngs against them and fines, for incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility.

  • Les Wilson

    Just to add, Police “Scotland”, are also not coming out of this well. The same ones who would not reopen the Willie McRae case either
    when new evidence appeared. No said the Prosecutor Fiscal along with the Police.
    Tells you where their allegiences lay eh.

    • defo

      It’s only the PF(the Crown) who decides on which cases to bring before the court Les. I think.
      Nothing to stop the Polis re-investigating stuff though ‘in the light of new evidence’.
      Depends upon which nations interests it’s in, obvs.

  • Ray Trusty

    It comes as no shock to me that the law system of Scotland is corrupt…..I myself was set up and convicted of assaults with no evidence other than my ex wife’s sons word…..these charges stemmed from 2006, 2007 and 2014…..However when i produced a document that revealed my ex wife and sons as having committed fraud by passing a fake rental agreement through a court for ratification, the Sheriff who read this document ignored it, and called it outrageous…..I lost my social work career and was given 150 community hours. I also provided other compelling evidences to reveal my ex wife but she walked free from the court, as did the DC who helped set me up…..Even now i have those evidences which reveal the sheer depth of lies within the instututional replies as told by Police comissioners (Letters) to cover up their DC’s lies and deciet. I have sent all documents to the Crown office in both Dundee and Edinburgh, but its ignored! So I can sympathise with Alex Salmond totally!

    • Ros Thorpe

      Awful. My brother has just been convicted of dangerous driving by a copper convicted of dangerous driving who failed to turn up to his own trial! Nasty people!

  • Goose

    The Alex Salmond Show is a UK weekly political talk show hosted by former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond which premiered on RT on 16 November 2017.

    Wiki – “After it was announced that The Alex Salmond Show would be airing on RT, Salmond received cross-party criticism from politicians and journalists who accused him of launching a new programme on a “Kremlin propaganda channel”.

    In the wake of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, critics called for Salmond to cancel The Alex Salmond Show with some raising questions regarding editorial independence. Salmond defended the show and insisted that he had full editorial control of the programme with no interference from RT.

    I’m not offering an opinion on the allegations.

    However, you can see why the UK establishment would be furious about a respected, senior UK politic figure lending his credibility to their bête noire TV channel RT.

    • Goose

      Too petty and vindictive a response?

      With another independence referendum in the offing, RT could be viewed as a dangerous(to the union) campaign platform countering the BBC’s negativity about Scotland post-independence. The one thing elites have hated throughout history, is losing control of the message/narrative.

        • Goose

          The collective media omertà means they don’t have to worry about even that.

          We are a country of secret courts and the peculiarly British DSMA notices. Look at Chris Williamson’s progress in demanding answers over the Integrity initiative – it hasn’t led anywhere; its like there’s a media blackout. The worst they’d get is a slap on the wrist and be told to tighten their IT security practices so as not to caught out again.

          It’s as if the UK never advanced from the Middle Ages.

          • Yr Hen Gof

            Or the Shai Masot affair, which at the very least should have led to a shed load of Israeli Embassy staff being swiftly redirected to Tel Aviv.
            Instead, Boris couldn’t kick it into the long grass quick enough.
            Living as I always have in very safe seats, my vote has never counted towards any sort of change but I’ve yet to see a candidate listed as standing for the Likud party, although unsurprisingly, they do have a presence here.

  • headingley

    I know little about Scottish politics or Scotland and you have access to a lot more information than is public so bare with the ramblings but an alternative perspective/theory regarding Sturgeon and SPADS involvement in this attempted Westminster/CS smear campaign against Salmond could possibly be to contain the fire.

    We now know the process was an unlawful shambles.

    If Sturgeon and SPAD where not involved where would these allegations against Salmond be now?

    The Westminster establishment/CS have attempted to remove a great Indy movement asset in Salmond. Have they succeeded? I would suggest no.

    They have also attempted to cause a split within the indy movement through unfounded finger pointing? Have they succeeded? Your (an others) hostility toward Sturgeons part in this suggests yes.

    Take it for what it is: divide and rule. There are cleaner sewers than a large section of folk who work for the British Union. Look at the depths they sunk to in Syria.

    This failed campaign is just the start of many dirty tricks. Don’t do their bidding for them by infighting over nonsense.

    Unity = Independence

    • Sloop John B

      ‘I know little about Scottish politics or Scotland…’ And yet you feel free to throw your opinion into the ring on a political blog. Jesus, what arrogance.

  • Sharp Ears

    Trust Ms Sturgeon and her cohort have sight of this article and of the comments. She must take heed. Suggest resignation and a long retirement. I am sure that adequate pension arrangements have been put in place.

  • John Robertson

    Excellent article save one point. Now that Mr Salmond has appeared and is on bail, there are strict time limits for the crown to indict and for a trial to take place. 12 months, I think. Failing which he will be acquitted.

  • Robert Nugent

    After reading this, these three women should be held totally responsible.
    And Police Scotland Chief Constable should be dismissed for criminal incompetence

    This is no more than a witch hunt

    • RandomComment

      Is Salmond the prey, or are the three schemers? ‘Tis the Scottish Play, after all. 😉

      (But I think you meant the former, and I agree)

  • Brian Powell

    Alex said in 2017 he was ready to step back into full on campaigning, and within a few months this happens. There is no question that this was an attempt to spike his guns.
    The other point I would make is that a substantial number of commentators here are anti-SNP and anti-Nicola Sturgeon. Too obvious.

      • Brian Powell

        They are the only ones who are doing that, the party for 80 years, Nicola Sturgeon from the age of 16. Others joined in.

  • J Dryburgh

    In the not too distant future, when Scotland becomes an Independent Republic, there can be only one person for President. …..Mr.Alex Salmond.

  • Jenny Macdonald

    I have every faith that Alex will never be found guilty of any impropriety if it ever goes to trial. There are forces trying to kill the movement in Scotland for self determination and Alex has been targeted in this way to undermine it. They even try to imply Nicola is involved or implicated in the case. It’s a disgusting way to act by Leslie Evans et al. Who are they hiding? Who’s pulling the strings?

  • Dave

    An attempted political assassination at tax-payers expense and still a win if the targets reputation suffers, was unable to fund a defence or was saddled with some significant costs.

    The ‘committee for standards in public life’ are proposing the same thing (but worse) throughout local government in the name of improving standards (the usual double-speak) but exempts those in power who are ‘on side’.

    New Labour introduced a standards regime and code of conduct that allowed political opponents to claim offence and make anonymous complaints against an opponent and have a local standards committee they controled find their opponent guilty with powers to suspend them from office for 6 months.

    This led to a flood of complaints that brought local government into disrepute (the intended aim to excuse handing powers over to crony staffed Quangos), but the powers to suspend was dropped by the coalition government (due to Lib Dem influence) and the complaints dried up.

    A high profile victim (successfully appealed his suspension) of this regime was Ken Livingstone after he insulted a journalist (who claimed to be Jewish) from Evening Standard who was harassing him after a late night social event.

    The ‘committee for standards’ are now recommending the government reintroduce the powers to suspend elected representatives for 6 months for disrespecting others and in a growing (by design) culture of denouncement (under the guise of combatting hate) expect any off-side politician to be targeted for suspension for any contrived complaint.

    Outrageous because its the voters who should vote politicians in or out of office, not other politicians or civil servants!

  • exiled off mainstreet

    If there were any justice, Sturgeon and Liz Lloyd would be sacked, and the SNP would return Salmond to the leadership position. It is now proven as a fraud on the party and the membership, and the only ones benefited are the Politically Correct Brigade and the UK establishment, which gets a neutered party. If Salmond were still in command, there might be an immediate referendum, which would get more support, and independent Scotland would take a real independent position independent of the yankee-anglophone spy state establishment.

  • Phillip

    Long time reader but first time poster – so please be gentle!

    I have a question after reading many sources about the ‘Salmond Affair’:

    Why has the Scottish government/SNP turned against Alex Salmond?

    • Brianfujisan

      Welcome Phillip…and good question

      is it very well timed ?
      Alex came too close to our goal ?
      Alex would have delivered our Independence ?

      Alex boasts about grabing P*+* and being pictured with underage girls.
      Alex starts wars that kill millions of innocent souls
      Alex will Always refuse a place in the house of lORDS –

      “The rocks would melt with the sun before I’d ever set foot in the House of Lords,”

      • Phillip

        But Alex Salmond was no longer an MP or MSP and had handed over First Minister and leader of SNP to his hand-picked successor Nicola Sturgeon. Salmond was no longer part of the ‘establishment’ and not a threat in any way.

        So why go after Salmond and who has started this?

        I am confused!

        • The Blue Hackle Mafia

          Because he was starting to light a rocket under the Scottish Governments arses to rekindle Indyref2, the state needed him neutered and one thing that blackens a mans name regardless is crimes against women and children, it is already a viable weapon across the pond to take out strong opponents, where you will always hear the cry from the Democrats “What about the children/women (delete as applicable)” Way too many folk believe the mantra where there is smoke there must be fire, and that is all the establishment need to sully someone’s reputation

  • Ruth

    ‘That fact is indicative of monumental arrogance right at the heart of Holyrood.’ No, not arrogance. Holyrood is infiltrated by the British Establishment and their henchmen to maintain control of Scotland and prevent independence

    • RandomComment

      Henchpeople please! 😉 It’s not just men who can be evil stooges (right Hatuey?)

      Anyway, suspect Holyrood was never designed to be a genuine vehicle for Scottish Independence, in much the same way independent inquiries aren’t designed to get to the truth.

      • kathy

        I agree. The voting system at Holyrood was rigged so that the SNP could never achieve a majority. However, against all the odds, they did manage to achieve that so other means had to be deployed to scupper independence.

      • Ruth

        Henchpeople doesn’t exist at the moment. ‘Men’ can mean human beings of either sex; people.

        • RandomComment

          Wasn’t being serious Ruth, at least in the sense that I am not known for being the most politically-correct poster here.

    • kathy

      He is also outside UK control and is a loose cannon. His show on Russia Today was completely unacceptable to the UK establishment.

      • Muscleguy

        Then they should have leant on the UK channels. He pitched it to all the UK channels including the digital ones and was rebuffed. RT was hardly his first choice but he has said he has complete editorial control.

  • Douglas Millar

    Don’t delude ourselves the notion of Independence is great but the SNP are a political party true to form cover up lies deceit par for course.

  • thomas cochrane

    This seems on the face of it a complete horror story,it seems like forces unseen have decided to put an end to Mr Salmond’s career for their own political reasons.

  • remember kronstadt

    Corporate politics writ large, look busy, join a gang, boredom, ambition. Not one of us, feel no empathy, build a narrative, marginalise them, bye, next…

    • John2o2o

      Sharp, the article does say that she had a miscarriage when she was 40. Clearly insensitive and thoughtless comments were made.

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