Nicola Sturgeon says 'I am clear I did not mislead parliament' on Alex Salmond harassment complaints

Nicola Sturgeon has said she will “vigorously” deny claims she misled the Scottish Parliament over when she first knew about harassment complaints against Alex Salmond.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she did not mislead the Scottish Parliament around harassment complaints against Alex Salmond

However, Mr Salmond said that the evidence submitted to the inquiry, should it be published, would “speak for itself”.

The First Minister is due to give evidence to the harassment complaints committee on February 9 in her first opportunity to set out her side of the story in full.

The parliamentary inquiry is examining the botched handling of complaints against Mr Salmond which led to a £500,000 legal bill after the Scottish Government conceded a judicial review on the grounds the process was “tainted by apparent bias”.

Mr Salmond was later acquitted of sexual offence charges in a trial last year.

Central to the Salmond Inquiry’s deliberations is when Ms Sturgeon first knew about harassment complaints against the former first minister.

She had initially claimed that the first time she found out was during a meeting with Mr Salmond at her home on April 2, 2018, but an earlier meeting on March 29, 2018 with Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff Geoff Aberdein in Holyrood later came to light.

Ms Sturgeon has claimed she “forgot” about that meeting and that she did not know the April 2 meeting was about harassment complaints, a claim Mr Salmond has labelled “untenable” and “wholly false”.

If it is proven the First Minister knew about the complaints prior to April 2, she would be expected to resign in line with the ministerial code.

Asked on The Andrew Marr Show, whether she misled parliament and if it is proved, whether she would resign Ms Sturgeon added: “I did not mislead parliament so I am not going to speculate on what might happen in the future.

"I am clear I did not mislead parliament but I think to be perfectly frank, I think I have got a right to due process of inquiries as well before you start to take me beyond those inquiries to what might happen then.

"I am clear that I did not mislead parliament and that is what I will set out clearly when I get the opportunity.”

Challenged on Mr Salmond’s claims that such a position is not true, the First Minister added: “I don’t accept that and I will refute that vigorously.

“I will sit before that committee and I will set out my account of what happened, given the very difficult situation that I faced, and people can make their own judgments on that."

Asked if Alex Salmond was “spinning false conspiracy theories”, Ms Sturgeon said: “What I certainly reflect on is that at times I appear to be simultaneously accused of colluding with Mr Salmond to somehow cover up accusations of sexual harassment on the one hand.

“And then on the other hand, being part of some dastardly conspiracy to bring him down.

“Neither of those are true.”

Later on Sunday, a spokeswoman for Mr Salmond said: “The two inquiries under way are into why Nicola Sturgeon’s Government acted unlawfully.

“Alex has submitted his evidence as requested and the parliamentary committee is now challenging the Crown Office to produce some of the text messages which they believe are being suppressed.

“The evidence, if published, will speak for itself.”

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