Alex Salmond inquiry: Anyone involved in ‘conspiracy’ against former First Minister will ‘get their jotters', says MSP

Anyone involved in a conspiracy against Alex Salmond will be “getting their jotters” (sacked) if his claims are correct, a friend of the former first minister has said.

Alex Neil MSP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think there’s a real problem now because this is starting to dominate the airwaves at a time when we’re still dealing with the pandemic and also, in four weeks’ time, we go into the initial start of the election campaign.

“I think the SNP leadership has got to try and put a lid on this.”

Mr Neil added: “If it was proven there was a conspiracy – everybody involved in the conspiracy I think would be getting their jotters.”

It comes amid a row over an inquiry into the handling of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond.

The former First Minister confirmed on Tuesday evening that he would not give evidence to the committee in person on Wednesday as scheduled, after his revised submission on the potential ministerial code breach by Nicola Sturgeon was deleted from the Scottish Parliament website.

The Scottish Parliament was threatened with criminal proceedings by the Crown Office if it did not redact Mr Salmond’s key evidence.

His submission was later redacted and republished on the website.

Alex Neil MSP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think there’s a real problem now because this is starting to dominate the airwaves." (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The debacle led Alistair Bonnington, Ms Sturgeon’s old lecturer and a former honorary professor of law at the University of Glasgow, to label the Crown Office the “lickspittle arm of the current SNP Government”.

In an opinion piece for The Scotsman, Mr Bonnington said the intervention by the Crown showed “things have gone horribly wrong in Scotland’s constitutional system”.

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