Sturgeon leak claims denied by Salmond allies – Daily Business

Nicola Sturgeon’s memoirs were causing deep divisions in the nationalist community as a friends of Alex Salmond dismissed her suggestion that he may have leaked details about an investigation into sexual misconduct claims made against him.

In her memoir, Frankly, to be published on Thursday, Ms Sturgeon denies releasing details about the investigation, or knowing who did. But she adds that it would have been “classic Alex” to have been behind the leak.

In 2019, a judicial review concluded that the Scottish government’s investigation into Salmond’s alleged misconduct was unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias.

Mr Salmond, who died of a heart attack last October, was cleared of 13 sexual offence charges, including attempted rape, but the case continues to be the subject of much speculation.

He was awarded more than £500,000 in legal expense and left the SNP, later forming the rival pro-independence Alba party.

Its new leader Kenny MacAskill has called for a public inquiry into the handling of the sexual misconduct complaints against Mr Salmond.

Commenting on Ms Sturgeon’s claims, he said: “This hypocrisy is yet another reason for an inquiry into the Scottish government’s actions relating to Alex Salmond.”

Chris McEleny, who was Mr Salmond’s ‘right hand man’ in the Alba Party, described the ex-SNP leader’s suggestion as a “fabrication”.

“Nicola might think she can fabricate her own version of the truth now that Alex is no longer here but the reality is her book will end up in a bargain basket whilst Alex Salmond will reside in the pages of the Scottish history books.”

Journalist David Clegg, who broke the story about the Salmond investigation when he was political editor of the Daily Record said he did not believe there was any truth in Ms Sturgeon’s leak claims.

Mr Clegg, now editor of The Courier, said: “I find that a conspiracy theory too far.

“But I think it shows the level of suspicion and the deep rift that had formed between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon prior to his death.

“If it was Alex Salmond who had leaked it, when I phoned him up that night to put the claims to him, he did an incredible acting job of seeming surprised and shocked.”