Scotland’s First Minister has been cleared of breaching ministerial code
Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code in relation to her dealings with Alex Salmond after an independent inquiry into allegations she misled the Scottish parliament.
The first minister has been under investigation over her account of sexual misconduct allegations against Salmond. She had been accused of giving an “inaccurate” account by the Holyrood committee, and was also being investigated as to whether meetings with her predecessor should have been recorded.
After an independent inquiry by senior lawyer, James Hamilton, it was deemed that Sturgeon was “not in breach of ministerial code”, i.e. the standard and practices set out for government ministers and officials.
BBC’s James Cook posted a summary of Mr. Hamilton’s conclusions to Twitter which, essentially, details her full list of charges, as well the suggestion that ministerial guidelines may need to change in line with another “independent adviser”.
Nicola Sturgeon says she welcomes the conclusions of James Hamilton’s investigation, which she describes as "comprehensive, evidence-based and unequivocal," adding, "I sought at every stage in this issue to act with integrity and in the public interest." pic.twitter.com/zq9ju7JF6L
— James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) March 22, 2021
He deemed that while the First Minister did give “an incomplete narrative of events”, this was “the result of a genuine failure of recollection and was not deliberate”.
Part of the committee’s reasoning came from the belief that she had intentionally “misled” Parliament and could have acted earlier. According to The Herald, Sturgeon said she first became aware of any potential inappropriate conduct by Salmond after an inquiry in November 2017 regarding an alleged incident in 2013 with female Edinburgh Airport staff.
MSPs on the Holyrood committee reportedly believed that Ms Sturgeon knew of concerns about Mr Salmond’s conduct before this and, as such, should have acted. Doubts over the veracity of her account and subsequent party turmoil, apparently, have her facing a vote of no-confidence.
Regardless, Sturgeon has been cleared for the time being and you can read Nicola Sturgeon’s official response in the second tweet of the thread above. In short, she says that she “sought at every stage in this issue to act with integrity and in the public interest”, and believed that these concerns raised “should not be swept under the carpet”.
