I Have Stewart McDonald’s Emails 226


I have obtained access to all of Stewart McDonald’s emails, after approaching a number of people to find out who might have them. This is something the entire Scottish mainstream media have failed to do.

I had no hand in obtaining the emails nor prior knowledge. I am grateful they have been so generously shared.

I want to reassure Mr McDonald that his hysterical ranting about being hacked by a state intelligence service, when he appears by his own account to have fallen for a phishing scam the average 12 year old would see through, is hilariously wide of the mark.

Who in 2023 enters their login details into a third party website because they receive an email asking them to?

I think Mr McDonald’s credentials as a defence expert and NATO warrior have perhaps taken a hit.

I also want to reassure Mr McDonald that a highly responsible journalistic process will now be undertaken. Nothing will be altered or falsified. Nothing purely personal or about his love life will appear.

In particular, anything related to his constituents will remain absolutely and properly confidential.

If Mr McDonald or the SNP wish to get in touch about other material in the emails which is particularly sensitive for reasons of which we may not be aware, that will be given every consideration.

What will be published is material in which there is a legitimate public interest, relating to interactions with NATO, the British military and MOD, the Integrity Initiative and journalists in that crooked network, parliamentary committees, intelligence agencies, foreign powers, UK government defence institutes and conservative think tanks.

There has been little online support for Mr McDonald – and what there has been is telling

 

There is much of interest in the cache, including emails direct to and from Nicola Sturgeon, showing the toxic relationships within the SNP group at Westminster, where McDonald regards himself as in a very small minority of Sturgeon loyalists.

It is my hope that all those emails which are in the public interest for the public to know, with redactions if responsibly required, will eventually be published as a cache, so you can make up your own mind about the material.

This is also going to be a very interesting test on journalistic freedom in Scotland and Sturgeon’s iron control over the police and prosecutorial services.

In this context, the fact that I had no connection to, nor prior knowledge of, the materials being obtained is the essential point. My own involvement is purely to have tracked down who had them and then been given access to them, as journalist and publisher.

Doubtless after the usual pressure from Murrell and Robertson, the Lord Advocate will have the Crown Office looking feverishly to find a crime in that before the end of the afternoon.


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226 thoughts on “I Have Stewart McDonald’s Emails

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  • Vestas

    May I suggest you share them with someone you trust outside Scotland if you haven’t already done so – who you know will publish if you’re “unable” to do so given where you are domiciled? RevStu springs to mind, despite your current disagreements on GRA/GRR.

    • craig Post author

      Stu and I are good friends. Don’t worry, the cache is entirely safe and not in Scotland. To be clear, it’s not my cache I have just been given full access-

      • Vestas

        I understand that Craig (I’ve been funding him for 9 years on and off), however he’s one of the few people “motivated” enough to take on the Murrells who has sufficient presence in the online media that I’d trust with this.

        I don’t want to see you banged up again on spurious contempt of court charges, so if it comes to that (it will IMHO, as rapidly as the SNP can get one of their judges into a court to issue an interdict) then pass the parcel so to speak 😉

        • Rob

          I suppose we can expect a bit of plotting to get rid of Joanna Cherry, some musings on how to stall independence till he gets his pension, mixed with the usual self-inflating fap chats between him, Leasky, and Ben Nimmo, and all of this lubricated with a slathering of “his majesty’s government” obsequiousness.

    • A Bruce

      You’re right Vestas. I’m hoping that Craig has taken these precautions. He has many friends here in Europe who would be willing to help, and I’m sure that Stu would be willing to let bygones be bygones for the Cause.

  • Pears Morgaine

    Apart from being in receipt of stolen goods it looks as though there could be a breach of the Computer Misuse Act.

    https://hotality.co.uk/2017/04/12/ever-thought-viewing-someones-email-without-permission/

    Hefty fine and six months. You always have the ‘public interest’ defence I suppose but that doesn’t seem to count for much these days. Have you come to the end of your licence after your previous spell at her majesty’s pleasure?

    Given the determination of the establishment, particularly the Scottish establishment, to get one over on you I’d delete them ASAP.

    • Fat Jon

      Presumably none of these illegal acts apply to the military and secret services, who I’m led to believe are viewing billions of private emails per day without permission from account holders; in search of any key words or phrases they deem to be subversive?

      • kashmiri

        No. One, intelligence services are usually authorised to carry out intelligence collection. Two, they’re normally not capable of accessing emails at rest. Three, not “billions per day”, unless you don’t know how much a billion is or how many (or few) people are employed to sift through email.

        • Fat Jon

          A few people sifting through emails? How very quaint.

          I assumed ultra high powered computers scanned the communications looking for particular ‘strings’ in binary; in order to flag up anything that might be deemed suspicious.

          I apologise for getting it so wrong.

    • Lapsed Agnostic

      Assuming our host is in receipt of an electronic copy of the email data*, it could now be 12 months in clink, if the magistrate/JP is a Nasty Nic fan, Pears, or up to two years if it goes to a proper court (plus a fine of up to £10k) – and that could apply just for *trying* to access email data that you believe to have been obtained by hacking/phishing, never mind actually viewing or publishing it. Might be nice day to buy a new hard drive.

      https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/1 [Parts 3(b) & (c)]

      I think that receipt of stolen goods applies to physical goods only – could be wrong. I believe that our host’s licence term expired at the end of March 2022.

      * Internet servers are computers. [see Part 1(a)]

      • Pears Morgaine

        Thanks for that. Sure I remember a case where somebody tapped his neighbour’s Wi-Fi and got done for theft; certainly if you by-pass the electricity meter that counts as theft.

        • Lapsed Agnostic

          Thanks for your reply Pears. I always try to consult the original legislation about these things rather than relying on other people to intepret it. On that note, a correction to my previous comment: Magistrates are able to impose fines of up £10k for breaches of the Computer Misuse Act 1990, whereas judges in higher courts can impose unlimited fines. Apologies for the error.

          Handling stolen goods is covered under the Theft Act 1968 (at least in England & Wales), but it must be difficult to prove if there isn’t anything physically to handle.

          Anyway, let’s hope our host doesn’t get an early morning wake-up call tomorrow from someone letting themselves in with the big red key. Same goes for Stu down in Bath. He must have really pissed off the SNP top brass these last couple months, and is probably responsible for most of their 5%+ fall in the opinion polls.

          Enjoy the weekend.

          • Jimmeh

            > I always try to consult the original legislation about these things rather than relying on other people to intepret it.

            That’s a dangerous policy. On matters of law, reading the original legislation could lead you to disastrous errors. There may be significant case-law. And legislation isn’t written to be understood by us plebs; it might not mean what you think it means.

            If the risks are serious, consult a lawyer (which I presume Craig has done).

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Jimmeh. Whilst relying on original legislation can lead to errors, they’re unlikely to be disastrous, since case law is generally used to clarify any ambiguities. As with all these things, if in doubt, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

            Of course a lot of legislation is difficult to understand at first pass, but most people who are prepared to put the hours in should eventually be able to make sense of it. There have been hundreds if not thousands of cases of prisoners who’ve received little formal education managing to have their convictions overturned largely through their own efforts.

            As for lawyers, one of my relatives in Australia is facing months of hassle and tens of thousands of Aussie dollars in extra legal bills after his father was assured by a well-respected solicitor that wills signed in New South Wales were perfectly valid in Victoria where his main property was, and there would be no problems at all. Turns out that’s not the case. That’s just the most recent example of incompetence by the legal profession involving my extended family.

            Somehow, I doubt whether our host had received any (sensible) legal advice before blogging that he’d secured access to McDonald’s emails. As I speculated about in my previous comment, it seems he’s already had a visit from the bizzies, though in fairness they did leave his front door intact.

      • dgp

        You/Pears seem to be correct about the legislation, but is it an offence to read the material from a website or device, the origins of which are unknown, absorb the information, and insert the salient information into some not very penetrable text. I would hope there is some way to publish that avoids being confronted by our defenders of the law.

        • Lapsed Agnostic

          Thanks for your reply, dgp. As outlined above, strict interpretation of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 suggests that it’s an offence to even read data which has been obtained without the permission of its creator. Should you wish, I’d imagine that you’ll be able to read McDonald’s emails in due course, if not already, hosted on a server outside UK jurisdiction. I don’t imagine the authorities would be particularly interested, but then you don’t run a blog with 100,000+ readers which refuses to toe the Scottish government’s line. If in doubt, you could always use a VPN. Nothing I write here should be taken as legal advice.

  • Goose

    re phishing email scams.

    Mason and McDonald’s insistence that they’ve fallen victim to a sophisticated ‘targeted’ Russian ‘hacking campaign’ is likely Walter Mitty level self-delusion. It could literally be anyone in the UK, US , Europe , the world: maybe someone who dislikes them personally – an SNP voter perhaps, someone from a different wing of the party? Or someone who dislikes their politics and pro-war positions i.e. a political opponent. Or some bored, amateur hacker who’s obtained a contact email address and fired off one of the many official looking credential stealing login templates. Mason’s colleagues clearly know this , hence why they were baffled by his lack of any two-factor-authentication.

    Every concerned politician and official should watch this educational video highlighting just how easy these attacks are to carry out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9dBGWVwMMA

  • Vivian O’Blivion

    “ … including emails direct to and from Nicola Sturgeon, showing the toxic relationships within the SNP group at Westminster”.

    I’m sure Peter Murrell and Susan Ruddick will react with the equanimity we’ve come to know and respect.

  • Sidewinder

    Many congratulations Craig. Brave yes, but clever too. Whatever the SNP does or tries to do now will be very visible. Go for it.

  • Republicofscotland

    Where and when can we expect the cache to be posted?

    As you rightly say Sturgeon, Murrell and Bain, along with Livingstone will be right now plotting ways to stop it being revealed, Sturgeon will be frantically phoning Sunak (her boss) asking for him to help stop the cache getting out into the public domain.

  • Merkin Scot

    A belter, Mr. Murray.
    Mr. McDonald is my constituency MP and has been helpful on constituency matters, I believe.
    However, I cannae thole his support for the Banderites in The Ukraine.
    That he seeks to prosecute the war by blaming Russia for his his own stupidity is about right in these Orwellian times.

    • PhilM

      Your timely reminder that if you really do believe Ukraine is somehow some kind of fascist/Nazi/ultra-nationalist country that there’s plenty of fascism to go round. If you can’t see what’s wrong in how Russia is conducting its ‘special operation’ then you’re not an anti-fascist fellow-traveller but culpable of ‘bad faith’ at the very least. I’ll skip over the crassness of terming Ukrainians as Banderites and using ‘The Ukraine’ when no-one says that anymore.
      As for this cache of emails, is there any point in speculating about some kind of second- third- or fourth-order of Macchiavellianism? My concern would be that everyone’s guarantee of this cache’s absolute authenticity (i.e. that every single email is 100% genuine) is Stewart McDonald’s cyber-cretinism but maybe some of his friends are not so stupid as he looks…
      Just a thought…

      • Goose

        PhilM

        It’s perfectly consistent to hold both Russia’s and Ukraine’s leadership in contempt, albeit for different reasons.

        Russia were wrong to invade, but Ukraine’s leadership prior to invasion did all they could to antagonise and inflame the situation. Its people are now suffering horribly, and its leadership aren’t an admirable bunch. As we’ve seen from all the resignations due to ongoing corruption scandals – even during war time!

        Too many in the UK and US want to take a ‘black and white’ view of this; so long conditioned are we by our dumbed-down, two-party political systems, and near worthless, propaganda promoting media. A media that encourage people to think in simplistic terms, of ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys.’

      • Merkin Scot

        ” I’ll skip over the crassness of terming Ukrainians as Banderites and using ‘The Ukraine’ when no-one says that anymore.”
        .
        LOL!
        I lived at The Borderlands (The Ukraine) for many years and I was brought up with all the relevant languages.
        As soon as someone, speaking English, says “Keeeeeev” or “Lveeeeeev” or tells you their preferred name for someone else’s country we know exactly their level of support for the slow genocide in Donbass..
        That these Banderites in The Ukraine tried to kill my family may not be important for you. I understand completely.

      • Bayard

        “Your timely reminder that if you really do believe Ukraine is somehow some kind of fascist/Nazi/ultra-nationalist country”

        Like far too many, you appear to be confusing a country or its people with its government. To say that Ukraine is run by an unpleasant bunch of right-wingers who see Bandera as a hero is one thing, but that does not equate to tarring the entire nation with the same brush. The UK is currently run by an unscrupulous bunch of right-wingers, too. That doesn’t mean we’re all potential Blackshirts. Another far too common fallacy you are indulging is that criticism of one side equates to support for the other. Do you start every communication with “I condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”? If not, you really should, or else, by your reckoning, people are going to think you support Russia if you don’t.

        • PhilM

          You have completely misunderstood my point, which is interesting. If you can be bothered, read what I originally wrote a second time.
          More generally, what consistently surprises me in the current febrile political-military situation is that so many in our independence movement cannot see that the arguments that they favour or the evidence that they cite is perilously one-sided but also that there might be a direct parallel that is very instructive as to what the future might hold for Scotland faced with a hostile neighbour. We are hoping in the near future to gain control over our own territory in the face of a much larger, more powerful neighbour. This neighbouring country’s people make up at least 10% of our population and how these people fare after independence may be of extreme interest to that neighbour. Already we hear a few voices saying southern Scotland should be given a vote on whether the people who live there wish to stay in the UK before a final settlement is reached. To me, altering any of the internationally recognised and agreed borders is monumentally short-sighted. The kind of independence-minded Scot that currently cheerleads for Russia, usually through a deep-seated hatred for NATO or the US, is casually engaging in a moronic form of tribalism that appears informed by no historical sense whatsoever of how the nations of Europe have the borders they currently have. For the sake of European peace, borders should not change by military means.
          I am actually somewhat impressed by a couple of the replies because they show engagement rather than the kind of false outrage of the other person. As far as I understand the situation, it is indeed easy to find fault with both sides’ leadership, however only one side’s leadership thinks the other country has no right of separate existence. Now think about those commentators who question whether Scotland is still a country, whether Scots is a language, a dialect or even worse, or whether Scots should ever be given another chance to decide their future. Think about how people have cast back into history, using Balliol’s acceptance of overlordship as a significant historical event for how Scotland’s right as an old independent nation reclaiming its own sovereignty should be understood. Do people really not see how close the parallels are here? How problematic the overrunning of one state by another much larger imperial state is? How dangerous the implication often made subtly but also clearly that somehow Ukrainians deserve what’s happening to them? Why is the corruption in Ukraine even cited at all? What relevance does the corruption in one country have here…because we are arming them? If corruption is a worry for people, I would suggest looking around the world. There are no uncorrupted polities. So why is Ukrainian corruption especially relevant as it fights for its own survival as an independent state. If corruption is so important to people, I will gladly sit down with them and relate my personal experience of how corrupt Scotland is, at the end of which no doubt the logic of how corruption should be dealt with will lead almost syllogistically to the point where Scotland should never be independent and it would actually be better if English common law, English legal doctrines and English legal structures were used throughout Scotland. Nevertheless I think Scotland can do better as an independent country but believe me Scotland really is corrupt at a fundamental level.
          Moving on a bit…the internationally recognised name for ‘The Borderlands’ where Merkin Scot never lived is Ukraine, no-one calls Russia Muscovy any longer so the use of the obsolete ‘the’ is just pointlessly provocative. Even first-year university level Russian allows me to know that there is no definite article in Russian, so the use of ‘the’ is just antagonistic. That being said, if anyone ever said to my face I support some kind of ‘slow genocide’, I would first ask them if they really mean what they say by using those words…
          In more civilised terms, the reasoning on display in MS’s comment is childish. This is not how educated people make judgments. I’m also not sure why you would say ‘relevant languages’, when you could actually itemize them. For people with no knowledge at all of Ukraine, they might be surprised to know that other languages aside from Ukrainian and Russian are or were until recently spoken in Ukraine, so the term ‘relevant languages’ as used here might conceivably include a third or fourth language other than the ones just mentioned. Ukraine is a huge country, roughly eight times the size of Scotland I think, and depending on where someone lived or how old they are, the relevant language in use might turn out to be a third native language aside from Ukrainian or Russian.
          Finally, feel free Merkin Scot to elaborate on your personal family history. Let’s see if you can make it convincing. I am genuinely curious to see what you might come up with.

          • Bayard

            “You have completely misunderstood my point, which is interesting. If you can be bothered, read what I originally wrote a second time.”

            Ok, done that. Merkin Scot wrote “However, I cannae thole his support for the Banderites in The Ukraine.”
            He was writing about a group of people “the Banderites” in a country “The Ukraine”. Your reply was “Your timely reminder that if you really do believe Ukraine is somehow some kind of fascist/Nazi/ultra-nationalist country…” which shows that you have taken his comment about a group of people in a country and suggested that it means that he thinks that the entire country shares the beliefs of that group. I pointed out that getting from the former to the latter is confusing a people with a group within it, in this case, its government, as that is what Craig has been apparently supporting. How have I misunderstood your point?

            You also wrote ” If you can’t see what’s wrong in how Russia is conducting its ‘special operation’ then you’re not an anti-fascist fellow-traveller but culpable of ‘bad faith’ at the very least. ” Where had Merkin Scot even mentioned the invasion or the war? He didn’t, hence my remark about your apparent need to have a profession of faith about this event before every pronouncement (which you forgot to do in your reply, BTW). What did I misunderstand here?

          • terence callachan

            So PhilM , if Scotland decided to ask China to put missiles and Chinese troops on the border of Scotland and England and faced those missiles towards London what do you think England should do , then tell us what you think England would do .

            My opinion,
            Ukraine we know have wanted to join the EU for years did they think that joining NATO would speed that up ? If it did it wouldn’t speed it up by much , did they consider what Russia would think about NATO missiles supplied by USA and USA armed forces being on their border just 400 miles from Moscow ?
            Yes of course Ukraine considered all this but clearly decided with encouragement from USA to go ahead.

            Did Russia have to attack Ukraine? No, of course not. Should they have? No, of course not. Is it understandable in any way at all why they did sW? well, yes, I would say it is, given the relationship Russia has with USA because USA having control of missiles and troops just 400 miles from Moscow would be frightening to Russia and there is no doubt whatsoever that USA calls the shots in NATO; that’s why there are hundreds of USA bases across Europe.

            Russia do not want to occupy Ukraine. Russia is huge; it can’t handle the size of its own territory so it certainly does not want more, but more importantly it does not want NATO on its doorstep.

            I think Russia overreacted.

            Ukraine is one of fourteen countries that border Russia, but it’s by far the most important strategically because it’s where Russia had access to the Mediterranean Sea which is vital for trade. Having NATO in the Black Sea is one thing, but having MATO bases there is another.

            Do I feel that USA acts reasonably in terms of defence? NO, just look at how it behaves with China sailing war ships up and down the coast of China, which it continually says is okay because it’s international waters but it’s six thousand miles away from USA? And it’s in the China sea!!
            Would USA do the same in the Black Sea? … Oh yes.

            Russia aims to demolish infrastructure in Ukraine, not occupy it, but in my opinion it is now MORE likely that Ukraine will eventually join NATO.

            NATO has become the USA global military bases. Once NATO is established in Ukraine all the countries in Europe that border Russia will either be members of NATO or taking part in NATO exercises.

            USA have as I say already got their eyes on China; they will now target countries that border China and try and create problems that will be followed with offers of NATO membership.

            Lastly, why all this? Well it’s obvious: it’s not for defence, it’s for trade. The Ukraine war with Russia has seen the value of the US dollar rise.

    • J Galt

      I’m sure you’re wrong, our host has always struck me as being honest – often to his cost.

      As for the “attention” – I’m sure it’ll be along shortly.

  • dgp

    So I don’t suppose you can reveal your source, no real journalist would do such a thing, but it sure as hell would be interesting.
    I was recently in touch with a friend who is or has been a keen Sturgeonite (and forgetting the utter mayhem re the gender issue where the real problem has been the political ineptitude and stupidity shown by the SNP leadership), I have asked him to mount a defence of all the non-gender related stuff, actual political stuff, such as the hopeless implementation of Curriculum fo Excellence and the associated Examination system. Not to mention the grovelling to corporate interests and the unbelievably stupid Ferry sagaAndy Wightman twittered to the effect that Callum on Raasay made more progress with a shovel and wheelbarrow in ten years than the SNP has made with the A9.
    It is becoming more and more apparent with each passing day that the Holyrood and SNP experience has fallen so far short of what so many in Scotland had hoped for.
    One of the major problems is political management. While I have no idea whether the Murrell connection and financial oddities/irregularities are significant, It is simple political management to maintain a decent distance from such arrangements to dispel any hint of impropriety or mendacity. |I have little (no)experience of managing finance of an organisation with public responsibilities, but I think if |I did, I would be scrupulous in keeping personal money separate from the organisation money. Again it is utterly inept, even if not corrupt .It gives the impression of a cheap amateurish and shoddy values Surely that is something that a leader would try to avoid. (I am aware of the absurdity of the Tory travesty of ‘integrity’ but that is notable for not actually being incompetent. It seems to be their `SOP. and yes I must admit that it is entertaining or maybe ‘risible’ is more accurate.

    • Alf Baird

      “It is becoming more and more apparent with each passing day that the Holyrood and SNP experience has fallen so far short of what so many in Scotland had hoped for.”

      As Albert Memmi wrote: “The gradual selection of the mediocre which necessarily takes place in a colony is further worsened by a restricted recruiting ground”.

      Scotland’s institutional meritocracy and ‘cultural hegemony’ is largely composed of privately educated natives and elites from the ‘mother country’, which ensures an Anglophone unionist establishment that is vehemently anti-independence. Opportunities for maist Scots speakin fowk in thair ain laund therefore remain gey limited, which is why a great many Scots were forced to leave Scotland in the past. Wha sits in Holyrood disnae maitter sae lang as institutional Scotland is aye run by the same fowk haudin tae the same ‘values’. In a colonial society “it is only the values of the colonizer that are sovereign”.

      https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/elitist-scotland

      • Philip Maughan

        I’d wondered about that. The SNP are getting a lot of justifiable flack for all the half baked pieces of legislation getting rolled out of late. Behind the SNP Government however are a load of SPADs whose role is to advise the Government on any proposed policy, plus Civil Servants, whose role is to create the legislative format for approval in Parliament. Given that (I think this is right), senior civil servants to the Scottish Government are Westminster appointments, is it the case that these people are deliberately creating duff pieces of legislation to undermine the SNP?

        • Alf Baird

          Well, these are the same British civil service appointees who celebrated the ‘No’ vote in 2014. Their role is to protect the interests of the colonizer. Fowk cannae ser twa maisters – thay aye luve ane an laith the ither.

  • iain

    Sounds like these have the potential to be the final rapier between the shoulder blades of your persecutor. How poetic if you’re the one who delivers the final blow.

  • nevermind

    How exciting, looking forward to seeing some red faces. The afternoon is over, maybe wee nippy is having a few lenghty meetings when all others are having a jolly Friday. Feels like its your turn in the queue for an ice cream.

    • Republicofscotland

      Craig’s already been fitted up once by the dodgy COPFS for revealing the set up of Alex Salmond, the last thing he needs is Livingstone’s foot soldiers banging down his door to see him up in court facing Lady Dorrian, or find himself in front of a sheriff in a juryless trial.

      No, better to let someone else, (outside) Scotland and maybe the UK take the lead on this one.

      • Scott

        He wasn’t fitted up, he wrote the words(alad) he wrote voluntarily, knowing that HMA v Salmond was a live case. (It continues to be so wrt Contempt of Court Order issued)

        • Republicofscotland

          He wasn’t fitted up, that’s utterly laughable, Murray wasn’t even allowed to present evidence to defend himself, in his juryless kanagroo court.

          Craig Murray risked and lost his liberty to bring us the truth on the Salmond debacle, several alphabet women perjured themselves in the Salmond fit up, yet they are still at liberty and face no consequences of their actions, infact the Scottish judicial system is so corrupt that the liars have been given life-long anonymity.

          I’ll add without naming them, that several corporate/establishment reporters actually named one or two of the complainers in the Salmond fit up without absolutely no consequences.

          Salmond himself would now be doing hard porridge if it wasn’t for the fact that he had a jury, a jury made up predominately of women.

    • Goose

      It’d be wise to cooperate with other news outlets, such as the Grayzone, perhaps? I’ve no idea if that’s happening, but it seems a sensible way to proceed.

    • Jon

      It sounds like Craig plans to, but with background context, and with appropriate redactions – in other words, a “one man Wikileaks”. Sounds sensible and proportionate to me.

      If you mean that the emails should be published as-is, with no concern for their contents or the impact of that, I think the Murray/Wikileaks view would be that this would not be the behaviour of a responsible journalist. I would generally agree with that assessment.

  • Roger

    McDonald entered his login details into a third party website because he received an email asking him to …. and he has “credentials as a defence expert” … and then he blamed the consequences of his utter idiocy on Russian hackers?

    If any of this is true, it’s a sad comment on the level of ability displayed by Members of Parliament. But what can we expect, when the only qualifications for the richly-overpaid position of MP are (1) pals in the upper hierarchy of a fairly-successful political party, (2) some gift of the gab?

    • Goose

      Even Multifactor authentication (MFA) isn’t a defence against clicking on some dodgy sent link, then login. Usually the sender’s sketchy URL gives away the fact it isn’t legit, though the ‘https’ padlock means nothing. There are loads of scammers currently targeting well-known Youtubers.

      Basic stuff really, for anyone who could potentially be of interest to either State hackers or random hacktivists. Is no one telling MPs to avoid clicking links to login?

  • Doug

    Craig states, “There is much of interest in the cache, including emails direct to and from Nicola Sturgeon, showing the toxic relationships within the SNP group at Westminster, where McDonald regards himself as in a very small minority of Sturgeon loyalists.”

    Interesting and promising. A potential win-win for independence if Flynn [presumably not a Sturgeon loyalist] can become new SNP leader and withdraw all SNP MPs out from Westminster whilst setting up an assembly of all pro independence parties in Scotland to work for independence in conjunction with Holyrood’s own pro independence parliament.

  • SleepingDog

    I would have thought that if a professional state intelligence service had access to a Parliamentarian’s email account, the greater value would be in keeping that breach secret. But what do I know? And just because the British imperial state (like others) presumably violates data protection principles en masse and at whim, is there any cause for glee in emulating them on a petty scale? If I remember correctly, some recent report on abuses of personal data in a British public service indicated the widespread corrupting nature of this asymmetric power relation, characterised more by fishing expeditions than whistleblowing. The public interest totters if it has to rely on spear-phishing.

    • craig Post author

      I think you miss the point that the public interest may differ substantially depending on the individual MP and what they are doing which is being revealed.

      • SleepingDog

        @craig, I accept that, though in this case the public interest of the forthcoming revelations has yet to be publicly established, I gather. Of course, the disappointing aspect would be if many public servants knew of wrongdoings and failed to blow the whistle. And there are few goals more worthy than driving a nail into the coffin of the NATO death cult, if that can be achieved.

  • Gordie McR

    Craig Murray, ye are some fuckin boy. For the Scottish nations sake and yer ain dinnae get lifted..before you get the info out there!
    Genius.

  • Robert Dyson

    Presumably there will be panic in some high places. It must be the same in all powerful political parties. Could the documents expose illegal activity? I will wait and see. I wonder if there will be some behind the scenes offer to not publish, some deal. Who to trust. This is a story fit to become a great novel in the future. Sorry for the ramble, an Aladin’s Cave beckons.

  • Ian

    I take my hat off to you, considering the grief and attacks you will no doubt incur, not to mention I have no doubt more dubious legal threats and possible action. Regardless of the content, there is a very important principle at stake here, which is that the electorate deserve to know the political manoeuvres and actions of those who seek election and take substantial public money and benefits for that privilege. The public deserve to know if their representatives are hiding things from them which they would prefer us not to know, and are manipulating their office for political and personal gain.

    • Goose

      They don’t see it like that though. They tend to forget that they chose to go into public life and sought to exercise power over other people.

      They’ll probably attack Craig asking, how would he like it? Oblivious to the fact, Craig isn’t exercising power over anyone! Big difference.

  • yesindyref2

    If you publish these emails to feed your ego or sense of self-importance, that could be very hurtful to McDonald and it makes you no better than Liz Truss, BoJo or a vulture.

    Think again Craig, and try to rejoin the human race. You are better than this, or used to be.

    And I’m no fan of McDonald.

        • Jan Barnes

          If we assume Craig is as good as his word (and I have no reason to doubt it), then what is revealed will be evidence of misdeeds in public office. Having that revealed about you doesn’t make you a “victim”.

      • Robert Dyson

        The comment starts ‘If’. Of course if they are published in the public interest to show dishonesty and lack of integrity the powerful deserve to be toppled. It could be the emails reveal all the tricks being used to keep Scotland in the Union while maintaining a pretence of fighting for Independence. As I understood it ‘you’ are not publishing, you just have access to read. Don’t shoot the messenger.

    • Gordie McR

      For christ sake, McDonald has been parroting the British line since he was in the door of Westminster breaking with 9 decades of Scottish nationalist tradition and destroying long held principles. You are an Independence supporter and you have no interest in what these emails might contain?

    • Brianfujisan

      yesindyref2

      Would it be more hurtful to McDonald than Locking up an Innocent man..away from his Wife and Children..Like they did to Craig ?

      ” and try to rejoin the human race. ” ..When do you hear ANY SNP MP’s calling for an End to the Torture of Julian ?

      You Know Craig is an important part of Julian’s Team..in the real World

    • Republicofscotland

      yesindyref2.

      What a load of bollocks, McDonald is a Whitehall puppet with absolutely no interest in Scottish independence, he’s actively working against his own country’s (Scotland’s) interests and you want to play the sympathy card, I suggest you change your moniker to Noindyref2, and use the Union Jack.

      Nice touch with the last wee sentence.

      • yesindyref2

        I totally disagree with McDonald and his “Wait till support is at 60%, 70%, 80%, and I get re-elected again and again and get my pension for being a clown”.

        But that doesn’t give anyone the right to ruin his life.

        Anyways, forging emails isn’t rocket science, all you need is good email software, a text editor, and understanding of how email headers are constructed. Mind you, there’s only a few million or tens of million people who can do that. Including many who started tinternet with a 666 TAM. Most had more ethics though.

          • Gordie McR

            I’ve just had a quick shufty at your blog, Princess and you are feckin at it. No wonder your taking out the kleenex for McDonald because you are precisely the same type of Independence supporter as he is. On the SNP payroll are we or just close friends?

          • yesindyref2

            Thanks for your intellectual contributions to the debate, Gordie Whelps, I’ll give them the in-depth consideration they deserve.

          • yesindyref2

            Yes, I see what you mean.

            —————–
            From [email protected] Sun Jan 8 20:37:21 2023
            Received: from pop3.exterminate.cod by adsl.area51.nit with POP3
            id
            for ; Sun, 8 Jan 2023 20:37:21 +0000
            Return-Path:
            Received: from marsorbit.romulus.cod (marsorbit.romlus.cod [127.0.0.1])
            by marsorbit.romulus.cod (7.13.2/7.13.1) with ESMTP id n08JtT0p123451
            for ; Sun, 8 Jan 2023 19:43:29 GMT
            Received: (from apache@localhost)
            by marsorbit.romulus.cod (7.13.2/7.13.1/Submit) id n08tT9y023456
            for [email protected]; Sun, 8 Jan 2023 19:43:29 GMT
            Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2023 19:43:29 GMT
            Message-Id:
            From: [email protected]
            To: [email protected]
            To: [email protected]
            Reply-To: [email protected]
            Subject: Planet destruction by Vogons

            Dear Rip,

            Time to wake up and evacuate as planet Earth is being destroyed to make way for a bypass.

            Live long and prosper

            Your friend

            Batcrazy of Romulus
            —————–

            I daresay 2095 would be a bit easier, 2096 more of a challenge.

            edit: mmm, it appears I should use ampersand less than semi-colon same for greater than, oh well, at least it makes it safer!

        • Alf Baird

          As per the well-trod decolonization template (Frantz Fanon), a compromised national party elite “turns colonial exploitation to their account” and thus causes the “rupture in the independence movement”, which acts to delay independence. By delaying liberation of the Scottish people and nation they have conspired to ruin and limit millions of lives.

        • nevermind

          So glad you know how to do it indyref2, is that some sort of brag or would you like to guide us through the steps, not that i’m interested….boring

    • Pigeon English

      Yes Indy

      I’am not English speaking but IMHO if you changed order between judgments opinion and plea, your advice/plea/ condemnation would look much more humane and genuine.

      Do not be a poltroon CM like the rest of us

  • Tom

    You should be ashamed Craig. This is cheap nasty behaviour.
    What remaining respect I had for you for you has now gone. I thought you had integrity and supported Scottish independence.
    This is the act of a sour old man resentful of having his personbal ambitions rejected by the SNP.
    You once told me you were willing to refund the donation I made to your defence fund. I’ll have it now please.
    No doubt the Mail or Express or an arappearance on GB News will be able to reimburse you.

    • Goose

      Hmm…lots of pearl-clutching.

      The broader media publishes leaked govt emails, memos, complaints etc. all the time. Stuff that Pete Wishart and others leap upon, to attack the govt with.

      These aren’t likely to be anything personal. There’s no interest in anything salacious, unless there is brazen hypocrisy involved. I’d imagine they’ll show factional SNP scheming and plotting, and any activities that subvert democracy.

      • Tom

        I don’t know about you goose but I regularly get phoney emails telling me how vital it is that I respond and log in giving my details. Some are very plausible. Usually it’s with a view to stealing money from me, or having accessed my computer calling for a ransom to free it. It is one of the widest scams perpetrated on the internet. The people who do it are unprincipled criminals set on exploiting innocent people’s failure to spot the scam.

        People do fall for it. The reaction, like some here, when it is reported, is to blame, or ridicule the victim who has just had their savings stolen. For my part I believe these scammers are the lowest form of pond life. Parasites on the public.

        If someone was burgled is your reaction “Oh he deserves it. He should have had a better lock on his door”? Would you be happy (or even boast) about receiving some of his stolen goods, or exploiting information picked up from his diary or stolen phone? Is the thief an admirable human being?

        Craig has has done some admirable work, but he he is actually BOASTING that he is in receipt, of stolen personal information and that he intends to exploit it to damage the victim and for his own vainglorious advantage. Will he blackmail him too? Why not? He could really capitalise on it then. LIke the “Nigerian Bank” scammers who use exactly the same immoral methods.

        I thought Craig would be better than that. He isn’t.

        • Bayard

          “If someone was burgled is your reaction “Oh he deserves it. He should have had a better lock on his door”

          No, but if he hadn’t locked the door, most people’s sympathy would be reduced and if he said that it was the Russian Secret Service wot dun it, most people’s reaction would be hilarity.

          • Bayard

            Except these are not stolen goods which, are they? It is information about possible misdeeds. If there are no misdeeds, there will be no revelations, that is what Craig has promised, and if there are misdeeds, the man is not a victim but a wrongdoer. Why should we care how his misdeeds were discovered? Would you take the same stance if Craig was unmasking a fraudster who had robbed widows and orphans of thousands of pounds? Or if it was the police?

          • Tom

            I know just about nothing about MacDonald. Do you have some reason to believe he has committed “misdeeds”?
            Or is your argument that scammers are entitled to randomly phish anybody’s account in the hope they can unearth something to their pecuniary or political advantage?
            What Murray seeks here is simply private tittle-tattle about relationships between colleagues. The notion that ANY SNP MP has significant Influence over NATO, MOD, British intelligence, etc etc is absurd.

            Someone says Craig Murray now supports Alba. A little whie ago Murray said he couldn’t, due to their weaponising of transphobia But he seems to be OK with that now …… Reminscent of Groucho Marx “These are my principles, but if you don’t like them I have others.”

          • Bayard

            “I know just about nothing about MacDonald. Do you have some reason to believe he has committed “misdeeds”?”

            No, but of course, if he has nothing to hide, he has nothing to fear. Isn’t that true of any good citizen? I’m not worried about anyone hacking my email account as they would be monumentally bored going through all the reminders from the electricity company to send them a reading of the meter and stuff like that. I work on the assumptions that, if the authorities wanted to read my emails, they probably already have.

        • Goose

          Yes.

          So do I, I’ve got an inbox full of ’em.

          I’m not being smug, online security is very difficult even for IT professionals. Zero days, privilege escalation exploits are being revealed all the time in various OSes, w/patches made available. It’s not just your device you have worry about , but your typically commercial home router(only as protected as the vendor’s patches) and home network, eg switches and other people’s devices on that Lan. And if some sophisticated hacker wants to hack you , then we’d all probably fall victim. I take a lazy view, feeling I got nothing really worth that hacking effort.

          Much higher levels of protection are possible if you want to lock down the surface area of attack, like using/configuring SELinux and firewalls, but they simply aren’t convenient / practical for browsing, so we basically just try to avoid the obvious scams and navigate the online world the best I can.

          But, all that said. For a politician – someone who is the defence spokesperson no less, sharing sensitive info – using gmail allegedly, and falling victim to a phishing scam, well it’s pathetic.

          Someone tweeted, Back to Butlins for him.

    • dgp

      Do you know what is in the emails? You can’t judge, so best just stay schtum. You seem so sure of SNP motives when so many have abandoned hope. The problem is that no one with a spark of intelligence believes the SNP are seeking independence.

      • Tom

        To dgp: “Do you know what is in the emails? You can’t judge, so best just stay schtum”

        I don’t know if that was addressed to me, But – No don’t know what is in the emails, but I do know that phishing to steal someone’s information is a crime. And a particularly nasty one at that.

      • Goose

        Do you reckon the SNP wouldn’t be all over Scottish Secretary Alister Jack’s leaked emails, ones in relation to Scotland?

        Let’s face it, if there is anything damaging to Sturgeon it’ll be welcomed by many who see her as the roadblock to independence. Trying to hold a pro-inde blogger to some higher moral standard, when it’s Sturgeon’s control freakery that’s hurting the prospects of independence, is absurd. And no, I don’t have any idea what’s in them. They might yet prove to be a big nothingburger?

        • Gordie McR

          If it brings the hoose doon Goose, I’ll be delighted. By my reckoning the punters will no be giving up on their nation because the National Party was corrupted. To gain our liberty we need a genuine Scottish nationalist party to follow. One filled with honest, able people.

          There may be some whose support for Independence went no further than their admiration for the first minister. Maybe they suffer from the same thing we all suffer from at different times – a lack of information on how power works in Scotland. if this provides us with some of that it will be a victory for this cause of ours in the long run if no the short as well.

          So hopefully no a damp squib.

        • yesindyref2

          The clue is in what you just said:

          Trying to hold a pro-inde blogger to some higher moral standard,

          That’s the old “He / she done it so it’s OK if I do done it”. That’s the Attila the Hun defence.

          • Goose

            yesindyref2

            What obligation does Craig have to people he already believes to be inauthentic bad actors? Why should he shield the likes of Sturgeon and McDonald? Do you think Sturgeon would defend Craig Murray or Alex Salmond? The answer to that is already clear.

            Craig’s not prurient, I’m sure he’s not interested in anything salacious. He’ll only be interested in corruption/ subversion of democracy in relation to the SNP and McDonald’s public role.

          • yesindyref2

            Goose: “What obligation does Craig have to people …

            What obligation do any of us have to any other people?

            Or ourselves for that matter.

            Mmm, let me see, there’s humanity, decency, society, privacy, compassion, morals, responsibility, integrity.

            Or, on the other hand, take some minor backbench politician and destroy him or her for your own fell purposes. And the Unionists laugh laugh laugh in a feeding frenzy to see previous high profile indy figures turn on others in the indy movement in an orgy of self-destruction. Even the Viceroy, Bobbin’ Jack, manages to smile.

          • Goose

            They are big boys and girls.

            This is rough, tough politics. Craig supports Alba precisely because he suspects the SNP leadership are being disingenuous and dragging their heels on independence. If, and I don’t know, but if, he’s got evidence of some deeper malaise within the SNP, then he’ll feel a duty to share it with all the good people whom he still respects within the SNP.

            Look who’s defending McDonald: Paul “I love the smell of napalm in the morning’ Mason, a man outed as some sort of state intel asset. A man supposedly of the left, who boasted in emails of ‘cauterising’ Corbyn and the anti-war movement in the UK to his handler at the FCO. Since those emails emerged, Mason has gone full on überhawk. The mask completely slipping.

          • yesindyref2

            I actually don’t know who Paul Mason is!

            Anyways, in my days on Usenet there was a group where I and 3 or 4 others were key players as it were. One of these was a survivalist and though I’ve nothing against that, we often had arguments. One of these I was losing and losing badly, I swore a bit 🙂

            I then checked him out on the ‘Net and I was good at that stuff, and I found out he was a spammer. In those open days nobody liked a spammer and I was going to use that to “win” the argument, but luckily I realised he’d beaten me fair and square, and being a spammer was nothing to do with it. It was a narrow escape, and taught me that the end doesn’t always justify the means.

            As it happens I realised later if I’d used that, I’d have totally discredited myself anyway – which is of course one of the main reasons for codes and ethics – self-preservation 🙂

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