Alex Salmond '˜airbrushed' out of SNP online history

Hostilities between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon have taken a fresh twist after the former First Minister accused his successor of 'rewriting history' by airbrushing his name from the SNP's website.
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA WireAlex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Mr Salmond was accused of throwing a “temper tantrum” by political opponents as the fallout of the Scottish Government’s botched sexual harassment probe into him continues.

He led the party to its historic first Scottish election victory in 2007 when he became the SNP’s first-ever First Minister. But a “history” section of the party website detailing this achievement makes no mention of Mr Salmond. An article on the 2014 independence referendum also fails to mention him.

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An older “archived” page from the website, under a section entitled Our Party, does carry a picture of Mr Salmond and mentions him in relation to the referendum.

A spokesman for the ex-First Minister said: “Nicola should stop rewriting history and concentrate on making history by taking Scotland to independence.”

An SNP spokeswoman said: “Alex Salmond still gets numerous hits on our website.”

But Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton mocked the latest brickbats between the SNP luminaries.

“It’s no surprise that a man who missed a parliamentary debate on Syria to attend the unveiling of a portrait of himself is now having a temper tantrum at being written out of SNP history,” he said.

The relationship between Mr Salmond and his former deputy has nosedived following the collapse of the Government investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against the former party leader. He denies all claims of harassment.

It emerged the two SNP chiefs held a series of private meetings while the case was ongoing. A former Salmond aide, Geoff Aberdein, claimed this week that Ms Sturgeon’s chief of staff Liz Lloyd had been aware of the misconduct probe in late March – before Ms Sturgeon claims to have been aware of it.

This was rejected by Ms Sturgeon’s team, who have accused the Salmond camp of conducting a “vendetta” against Ms Lloyd and carrying out a smear campaign.

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Mr Salmond complained that individuals were seeking to remove his as a “political threat”.

The former First Minister used his chat show on Kremlin-backed RT last week to increase the pressure on his successor to press ahead with a second independence referendum. Ms Sturgeon has already banned her own team of Government ministers from appearing on the show.