(Scottish Solicitor Advocate)
(Jan 18, 2021)
It won’t surprise readers of this blog to learn that two of the Scottish Government’s most senior officials – Head of “People Advice” Judith Mackinnon and Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans – have once again given evidence to the Salmond inquiry which is contrary to the facts. In this and the next couple of posts I’ll detail some of the relevant facts and evidence, and I’ll try to explain where this quite extraordinary behaviour by the Scottish Government fits into their ongoing war on Alex Salmond, and on the truth.
[…] From mid-November onwards, it had become more and more critical to Evans and Sturgeon to have a decided procedure which gave Sturgeon plausible deniability of her knowledge of the complaints against Salmond just as soon as anything remotely coherent could be cobbled together.
[…] In November and December 2017 and in January 2018, it was never anticipated by any of them that a report to the police and consequent criminal investigation would be necessary for them to achieve their principal aims of establishing beyond all doubt their Me Too credentials while insulating the First Minister entirely from any criticism that might come from ruining beyond repair the man whom she herself called her mentor and person closest to her of anyone outside her family. As I’ve detailed in earlier posts, and will return to again soon, this was achieved in the truly remarkable “recast” of the complaints procedure, tailored entirely and solely to get Alex Salmond, which was completed at nearly midnight on 5 December 2017, removing the First Minister of Scotland completely from the procedures of her own Government and doing away also with every last trace of procedural fairness for Alex Salmond.
[…] If Salmond could be charged with criminal offences, the civil court proceedings which were inevitably coming could be sidelined – “sisted”, or suspended, to use the legal term – while criminal proceedings took their course. The gleeful and hysterical press coverage that would then be forthcoming from the ever-reliable Scottish media would ensure that the war was already all but won. If Salmond could then be convicted of even one of those offences, then the war would be won in a rout.
[…] There’s a lot more to follow, so please stay tuned.
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