[Music]
how did a political friendship that
brought scotland tantalizingly close to
independence
descend into such rancor
the bitterness of their feud makes high
drama
[Music]
this is a dysfunctional relationship
between the two most important people in
the nationalist movement
alex simon and nicolas sturgeon who are
now mortal enemies
but the personal clash exposes a bitter
political divide in the snp
upon which the long-term fate of the uk
hangs
for it's a dispute about where the
independence project goes next
the nicholas durden's historically very
important to the country to the snp
and we have to get behind her and get
behind
the future of the country and unify as a
party
in march last year alex salmond was on
trial charged with multiple counts of
sexual assault
nine women gave evidence against him
alex hammond left the high court an
innocent man acquitted of all the
charges against him
by now he was convinced that he'd been
the victim of a deliberate
plot to destroy his reputation and he
said the evidence
would soon come out evidence that i
would have liked to have seen lead
in this trial but for a variety of
reasons we were not able to do so at
some point
that information that facts and that
evidence will see
the light of day but it won't be this
day
now it's the scottish government he once
led that's on trial
mr simon has told the inquiry in writing
that there was a malicious and concerted
effort
by scottish government and snp officials
to remove him from public life
even to the extent of having me
imprisoned he said
he accuses nicola sturgeon's husband the
snp chief executive peter murrell
of trying to persuade staff and ex-staff
members to submit
police complaints against him
in january 2018 the scottish government
began an investigation
after two women civil servants
complained about him
in march that year alex salmon
complained that the investigation was
unfair he wasn't given the chance to
defend himself
the scottish government carried on
regardless so he brought his case here
to the law courts and won
in a process known as judicial review
the court of session
found in january 2019 that the scottish
government's handling of complaints
against alex salmond
was unfair and tainted by apparent bias
the court ordered the scottish
government to pay him more than 500 000
pounds
in legal fees
it was a staggering defeat for the
scottish government revealing
incompetent and even unlawful conduct at
the highest levels
the current hollywood inquiry was set up
to examine how the scottish government
got its internal investigation so badly
wrong
that is criminal trial alex salmon's
defense counsel gordon jackson went
further
there's something going on here he told
the jury i can't prove it
but i can smell it evidence for whatever
it is he thought he could smell
is what alex salmon hopes to bring
before the hollywood inquiry
and if gordon jackson couldn't prove it
in court last year
can alex salmon prove it now
he says that the scottish government had
been given explicit legal advice that it
would lose the quarter session case
and it went ahead with it anyway that's
a very serious charge
secondly he claims that a special
adviser was heard saying they wanted to
get him
which also is a fairly serious
accusation but probably the worst is
that
he says very categorically that nicholas
sturgeon has not told the truth
about meetings she had with him prior to
all this in 2018
and that if you like could be the worst
uh outcome for nicolas sturgeon
what did she know and when did you know
it nicholas sturgeon told parliament
that she first heard of the complaints
against alex salmond
at a meeting with him at her private
home in glasgow
on april the 2nd 2018. she did not
inform her civil servants of that
meeting
and no minute was taken
but a former chief of staff to alex
salmon told the criminal trial last year
that he had told nicolas sturgeon about
the complaints
three days earlier at a meeting here at
hollywood a meeting she later said she
had forgotten
in which case why did she agree to meet
alexander in private
and keep no record of what they
discussed alex hammond says she has
repeatedly misled parliament on this
and that this puts her in breach of the
ministerial code an allegation she
denies many claims will be made about me
there are legitimate questions i have to
answer i
am rightly and properly subjected to
scrutiny but he also has a
an obligation if he is making claims
about conspiracy or plots against
him to not have that as assertion or
smear or
insinuation but to bring forward the
evidence of that and that's his
opportunity to do that this week thank
you convener
alex hammond's decision to delay his
appearance comes after he raised
questions about the inquiry's
credibility
the crown office scotland's public
prosecution service
intervened this morning to block
publication of some of mr simon's
written evidence
limiting what he would be able to say as
a witness after raising
legal concerns the head of the crown
office is one of the scottish ministers
and is appointed on the recommendation
of the first minister
mr salman's supporters say this amended
publication of his submission
amounts to silencing him and denying him
the redress he is seeking
ruth davidson of the scottish
conservatives told parliament there was
a cover-up
orchestrated at the heart of government
the whole affair has shown an
unforgiving light
on the governance of scotland the
openness and accountability of its
institutions
in his written evidence alex salmon says
there has been a complete
breakdown of the barriers between
government political party
and prosecutors barriers that are
essential to any functional democracy
i have to say the scottish government
have been incredibly obstructive
we need to get to the bottom of why the
scottish government
lost the judicial review why they
brought forward a
flawed policy to deal with harassment
complaints
and we don't start to get into that
unless we can actually see
the legal advice that was provided to
the government nicholas sturgeon
promised
that the committee would get every
document they asked for
all the cooperation we required and none
of that
has really happened to the extent that
it should have done
the salmon sturgeon rupture exposes an
increasingly bitter split in the snp
that was emerging anyway with polls now
showing a majority sustained over many
months
now in favor of independence many allies
of alex salmon see nicola sturgeon as
too cautious
they want a more radical plan b for
independence
one that gets round westminster's legal
right to veto another referendum
she remains popular in the party and in
the country her handling of the pandemic
has boosted already strong
public approval ratings but now her
supporters feel the need for the first
time
to defend her not from opponents of
independence
but from supporters who think she's not
radical enough
this has never been a better time in
terms of the mood of the country
nicholas sturgeon is more respected than
any leader has ever been
she's more respected in european
capitals which is crucial because the
whole point of having the argument is to
get scotland back into europe and
they'll have to receive
scotland and accept us so nicholas
durden's historically very important
to the country to the snp and we have to
get behind
her and get behind the future of the
country and unify
as a party and i think that will happen
nicolas sturgeon is facing a second
parallel inquiry led by a former public
prosecutor
to determine whether she did indeed
break the ministerial code
in normal times breaking that code would
trigger a resignation
but these are not normal times none of
alex salmon's fury has yet dented her
popularity with the public
polls suggest she'll lead the snp to an
overwhelming victory in may's hollywood
elections
and that there could well be a strong
pro-independence majority
in the scottish parliament a majority
that will have promised the electorate
a second referendum on independence
if she does what happens when boris
johnson says no
healing the rift in her party and
securing her own leadership of it
will depend on how she tries to answer
that question