Sturgeon -v- Salmond. This is going to be very interesting. Is the SNP finished? And what impact on the Scots regarding Indy2? ?

I suspect that 99.9% of SNP supporters will ditch Alec Salmond and rally behind NS. They are very tribal and survival of the party is number one.

I think NS will survive intact.
Mind you it’s not over yet. More people under oath still to come before the committee.

I agree that is very difficult to believe. And the fact that the leader and the chief executive are married was only ever going to end in a big mess.

Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP is married to Peter Murrell, chief executive of the SNP, but, if we are to believe her account, she didn't tell him about devastating events which threaten to rock their party. What a strange marriage!

She looks uncomfortable and decidedly shifty. Can’t quite remember, so shocked by what she’d heard she couldn’t concentrate - what?

Apparently her PR team chose Budget Day for her appearance in front of the committee.

No they didn't, how ridiculous. There's been lots of accusations that various events were timed to coincide with others, and here's another. NS has been prepared to appear before this committee for several weeks, but it kept being postponed. I think you'll find her "PR team" have less power than you think they do.

She didn't choose Budget Day. Unless she's got the same super-powerful PR Team as MM and they decide which days are the best for their clients for all broadcasts?

Not a fan of either, but NS looks decidedly shifty, no definite answers to anything, why is she so unsure of anything, not as if she didn’t know what questions they would ask, very odd. Her body language speaks volumes, think she chose Budget Day to deflect. If indeed AS was sewn up like a kipper that’s bad, everyone says how he mentored and encouraged her, working so close how could she doubt him. You couldn’t write a better plot really.

Well Nicola Sturgeon’s answers are all “correct me if I’m wrong” and “to the best of my knowledge, I'm not 100% sure, if I remember correctly, I will have to check my records”.

She's looking very uncomfortable.

Apparently her PR team chose Budget Day for her appearance in front of the committee.

Iam64

Alegrias1

What Nicola said: “The behaviour complained of was found by a jury not to constitute criminal conduct and Alex Salmond is innocent of criminality, but that doesn’t mean that the behaviour they complained of didn’t happen and I think it’s important that we don’t lose sight of that.”

Information about the court case from the BBC website:
Mr Salmond admitted to having a "sleepy cuddle" with one complainer, and what Mr Jackson (lawyer) called "a bit of how's your father" with another - both members of his staff far younger than he, and neither of them his wife.

The defence also never really attempted to dispel the slightly raucous image of Bute House drawn by the prosecution, of exotic liquors being poured late at night after celebrity dinners and staff being invited to do paperwork in the bedroom.

In other words, what Alex may or may not have done wasn't illegal. Doesn't mean he didn't do it.

Nicola Sturgeon is of course correct in the quote above.
Salmon wants to destroy her.

And who can blame him. She was quite happy for him to go to prison for something he didn’t do. A kiss and a cuddle but Prison.....

The whole thing stinks from top to bottom.

Dare say we’ll all be back on here next Wednesday!
Ta ta for now.
?

Yes big mess. Interesting to find out about the backup!

Salmond has backed up everything he's said. Let's wait for the info from his lawyers. What a mess all round though. Awful that this is happening at all but I suppose it's good that it's out in the open (probably) at last.

I watched the programme too. Why has Alex Salmond been stopped giving some of the evidence? How can that be legal?

Yes Urmstongran ... Murrells accounts certainly shifted about.

There's certainly lots to come out yet Lemon. One thing we do know though, Alex Salmond has no hesitation in telling a lie about the First Minister if it makes her look bad and furthers his case.

Peter Murrell, his wife Nicola Sturgeon and her legal team must be getting their ducks in a row this weekend.

There’s a lot to unpick.

This, from Wikipedia:

“In December 2020, during a committee hearing on "the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints" Murrell in his oral evidence gave contradictory information regarding whether he was present during a meeting between the FM Nicola Sturgeon and former FM Alex Salmond.

At first, he denied being at his home where the meeting was held, saying "I was not at home" but then later stated that "I arrived home not long before the meeting ended".

He also appeared to give contradictory evidence regarding whether he uses the social media app Whatsapp, stating that "I am not on WhatsApp; it is not a social media platform that I use".

However, he later clarified in written evidence that "“I do not use WhatsApp. There are several messaging apps on my phone that I don’t use. This includes profiles on Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn, Instagram, Slack, Skype, and WhatsApp, none of which I use". Peter Murrell's whatsapp account however appears to show that he last used whatsapp on the 22nd of November, 2020.”

I watched that interview on tv. He looked most uncomfortable. Went pink a few times.

“Taxi for Ms Sturgeon?”

I think there may well have been truth bending going on from the pair of them.Sturgeon didn’t want any unsavoury goings on to taint her ( friendship with Salmond) in her political career, and he is angry at being treated badly by her.
He says that she misled Parliament in what and when she knew things, she has had his evidence redacted and he cannot mention key things.

Probably not Lemon.

But if key actors in the case can bend the truth of what someone says this time, maybe they have done that before.

Lemongrove ... I agree. The Covid updates should be for Covid and nothing else .

Alegrias1

What Nicola said: “The behaviour complained of was found by a jury not to constitute criminal conduct and Alex Salmond is innocent of criminality, but that doesn’t mean that the behaviour they complained of didn’t happen and I think it’s important that we don’t lose sight of that.”

Information about the court case from the BBC website:
Mr Salmond admitted to having a "sleepy cuddle" with one complainer, and what Mr Jackson (lawyer) called "a bit of how's your father" with another - both members of his staff far younger than he, and neither of them his wife.

The defence also never really attempted to dispel the slightly raucous image of Bute House drawn by the prosecution, of exotic liquors being poured late at night after celebrity dinners and staff being invited to do paperwork in the bedroom.

In other words, what Alex may or may not have done wasn't illegal. Doesn't mean he didn't do it.

Nicola Sturgeon is of course correct in the quote above.
Salmon wants to destroy her.

But.....she shouldn’t have said anything at all about it, especially on a Covid update.

My point is that she didn't cast doubt on the decision of the jury. Despite what Alex and Jim Sillars would have you believe.

The crux of my point was that she shouldn't have been saying it on a so called 'Covid briefing'. She'd refused to comment on the Salmond situation before.

Then read the details of the evidence and trial UG. What you have written is the crux of the matter.

Ah - the demon drink.
It has a lot to answer for.