SNP chief executive Peter Murrell set to appear in front of Alex Salmond inquiry on Monday

Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and the chief executive of the SNP is set to appear in front of Holyrood’s harassment complaints committee on Monday, days after turning down the invite.

Peter Murrell, Chief Executive, Scottish National Party is set to give evidence on Monday to the Alex Salmond Inquiry.

It is understood Mr Murrell is set to appear in front of the committee – which is examining the Scottish Government's botched handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond – on Monday.

He had declined an invite to appear earlier this week on Tuesday, February 2.

Potential messages between Mr Murrell and other SNP figures are the subject of intense scrutiny and will be central to his appearance.

Scottish Labour’s spokesperson on the Salmond inquiry, Jackie Baillie, also called on the Crown Office to investigate the SNP figure for potential perjury.

A source familiar with the committee’s workings said: “Peter Murrell tied himself in knots at his last appearance. First he wasn’t home at all for the April 2 meeting, then he was.

"He never uses WhatsApp, but then he does for non-Salmond related chat.

"This will be his opportunity to straighten things out and for him to confirm under oath whether or not additional messages exist which might implicate him in a conspiracy to use the complaints of vulnerable women as a weapon in a civil war at the heart of the SNP.”

A source later confirmed that Mr Murrell had agreed to appear in front of the committee on Monday and claimed he had offered five new dates after initially declining earlier this week.

The SNP source said: "Throughout this process Mr Murrell has cooperated with all the Committee's requests even though the evidence sought of him consistently falls out with the remit of the inquiry. He'd offered five new dates for a rescheduled session, and Monday has now been agreed."

The committee is examining the botched handling of harassment complaints against the former first minister by the Scottish Government, which led to a £500,000 legal bill after the government conceded a judicial review challenge on the grounds of the process being “tainted by apparent bias”.

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

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.