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"Salmondgate"

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About

Salmondgate is a term that refers to the sexual allegation claims against former First Minister of Scotland and former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond who in 2019 was charged under fourteen offences including sexual assault, attempted rape and obstruction of justice – all of which Salmond claimed to be false.

A criminal trial took place at the High Court in Edinburgh from March 9th, 2020 which resulted in Alex Salmond being acquitted on all charges. The subsequent events of the trial led to the "Salmond inquiry" which saw a committee set up in the Scottish Parliament to review the government's handling in sexual harassment cases and a ministerial code investigation was set up in 2018 to find out if First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code for accusing of lying to the Scottish Parliament when she first knew of harassment complaints.

Salmondgate was also the origin of the #SNPCivilWar meme after Alex Salmond and the SNP were criticised by other political parties over the controversy which subsequently led to media outlets claiming there was a 'civil war' occurring in the party. It also led to hashtags such as #NippyKnew and #ResignSturgeon being used on social media sites such as Twitter.

Origin

2018 Bute House sexual allegations

Allegations first came to light in 2018 after it was revealed that Salmond had groped two women in Bute House in Edinburgh, Scotland, the residence of the First Minister. After the allegations were made public, Salmond resigned as a member of the SNP as he was planning on taking the Scottish Government's civil servants to court after they made the claims against Salmond. Alex Salmond succeeded in the court and was paid Β£500,000 by the Scottish Government in response.

2020 High Court trial

Alex Salmond was arrested on January 24, 2019 and was charged with fourteen offences including sexual assault, attempted rape and obstruction of justice. He was released on bail and after leaving the Crown Court in Edinburgh, he said that he had no wrongdoing in the charges placed against him.

Alex Salmond was acquitted on all charges and stated that evidence which he planned to talk about in court would eventually see the light of day.

Scottish Parliament inquiry and ministerial code investigation

After Alex Salmond successfully took the Scottish Government to court due to the handling of sexual harassment cases against him, a Scottish Parliament inquiry was set up to investigate how the sexual harassment cases were handled. The inquiry first heard from Lesley Evans, permanent secretary to the Scottish Government.

Peter Murrell, the chief executive officer of the SNP was questioned on November 2020 by the committee. The evidence he gave was subject to criticism by the committee due to the inaccuracies of what he said which were later condradicted by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, his wife. In January 2021, Scottish Labour called for a perjury inquiry into Peter Murrell after they accused him of lying under oath at the inquiry meeting.

A ministerial code investigation was also set up to find out if Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code after she was accused of lying to parliament on when she first knew of harassment complaints. Nicola referred herself to the investigation in 2018. In December 2020, Alex Salmond accused Nicola Sturgeon of breaking the code and asked for it to be widened. Nicola Sturgeon strongly rejected the claims that she broke the ministerial code and accused Alex Salmond of spinning 'false conspiracy theories'. She also stated that she relished the opportunity to appear at the Scottish Parliament inquiry to give her account on what happened.

Alex Salmond's committee appearance

Alex Salmond appeared at the committee on February 26th, 2021 where he gave evidence to the committee for just over five hours. In his evidence session, he claimed that there was a plot to damage his reputation and even to an extent of imprisoning him and he also claimed that his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, broke the ministerial code however stated that he had no evidence to suggest Nicola Sturgeon conspired against him.

Reaction

Alex Salmond's appearance at the committee led to some stating that his performance was 'formidable' and was praised by those on the pro-Salmond faction of independence supporters. Sarah Smith, the Scotland editor for the BBC claimed that Alex Salmond stated that Nicola Sturgeon should resign if she broke the ministerial code. This led to criticism of her response and resulted in Sarah Smith rectifying her mistake on Twitter however there was severe calls for her to rectify her response on television.

No confidence motions in Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney

The Scottish Conservatives lodged a vote of no confidence in the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, for failing to release legal advice to the committee, after the Scottish Green Party (who hold the balance of power in the Scottish Parliament due to the current government being a minority government) stated that they would vote with the other opposition parties. Due to this, the government released the

On March 2nd, 2021, the Scottish Conservatives also lodged a vote of no confidence in Nicola Sturgeon as they already assumed she misled parliament and broke the ministerial code. This was met with heavy criticism as Nicola Sturgeon had yet to appear at the committee to give her evidence. After her evidence session, the Scottish Conservatives withdrew their vote of no confidence submission due to her evidence session and also with the Scottish Green Party, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats for failing to back their no confidence motion.

Nicola Sturgeon's committee appearance

Nicola Sturgeon was the final witness to the committee. She appeared on March 3rd, 2021 and spent eight hours giving evidence, the longest session of any committee meeting in the history of the Scottish Parliament. In her evidence, Nicola Sturgeon stated that claims of a plot 'to get Alex Salmond' were absurd and clarified strongly that she did not mislead parliament and broke the ministerial code.

Response

Nicola's appearance at the committee resulted in over 5,000 new members joining the SNP. The figure increased to 7,600 the next day. A lot of the new members were primarwomen. Some claimed that one factor of this was due to the comments made by committee member Murdo Fraser asking Nicola Sturgeon if she would apologise over Alex Salmond's behaviour which she rejected. On Twitter, the hashtag, #IStandWithNicola received over 36,600 tweets and trended number one and four in Scotland and the UK respectively.

Vietnam Group

On January 29th, 2021, SNP MP Kenny MacAskill, who is close with Alex Salmond, stated that there was a group chat set up which involved SNP ministers discussing the High Court trial. Claims were made by Craig Murray, who said that Nicola Sturgeon orchestrated the women who would later accuse Alex Salmond of sexual harassment.

These claims by Craig Murray were met with mixed responses after some in the independence movement supported Craig Murray's claims whilst others stated it was "poor conspiracy theories".

Reaction

2018 Bute House sexual allegation claims

After the claims were first made to the public, the political parties attacked Salmond and the SNP.

January 2019 arrest

Salmond's arrest was met with stories published on news sites and other media outlets including BBC News, Sky News and ITV News as well as various newspapers.

Again similar to the previous 2018 incident, several media outlets claimed that there was tension in the SNP and claimed that more civil war tension were made.

Salmond's arrest was made on the same day as the Scottish Parliament were planning First Minister's Questions. Before beginning, Ken Macintosh, the presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament addressed the members of the Parliament that it was an ongoing case and that it should not be a subject of debate during any further sessions in Parliament.

Claims of deliberately over arrest

There was also several claims that the arrest was deliberately staged and timed. Some claimed that because the Scottish independence movement was growing stronger and to because of the mess the UK Government were making over Brexit negotiations, they used the arrest as a 'scapegoat' to put a focus on the arrest of Salmond to the public eye.

Some also claimed that the arrest could have been deliberately timed in the run-up to Burns Night on January 25 with some commenting that it was suspicious.

Twitter user Joseph Given (@SweetTranslator) posted a picture which showed that BBC News had published an article focusing on Salmond's arrest, 10 hours before it released to the public.

Herald Scotland newspaper controversy

On March 7th, 2020, one day before the trial was to begin, Scottish newspaper Herald Scotland had published a piece in their paper by Neil Mackay comparing Alex Salmond's trial to the Yorkshire Ripper, Jon Venables

James Bulger's mother Denise called out the use of her son's picture alongside the convicted individuals and groups Alex Salmond was compared to.

See also

  • #SNPCivilWar -- a meme which had been created in response to the claims of pro-Union media outlets claiming that the allegations triggered a civil war within the SNP.
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"Salmondgate"

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About

Salmondgate is a term that refers to the sexual allegation claims against former First Minister of Scotland and former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond who in 2019 was charged under fourteen offences including sexual assault, attempted rape and obstruction of justice – all of which Salmond claimed to be false.

A criminal trial took place at the High Court in Edinburgh from March 9th, 2020 which resulted in Alex Salmond being acquitted on all charges. The subsequent events of the trial led to the "Salmond inquiry" which saw a committee set up in the Scottish Parliament to review the government's handling in sexual harassment cases and a ministerial code investigation was set up in 2018 to find out if First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code for accusing of lying to the Scottish Parliament when she first knew of harassment complaints.

Salmondgate was also the origin of the #SNPCivilWar meme after Alex Salmond and the SNP were criticised by other political parties over the controversy which subsequently led to media outlets claiming there was a 'civil war' occurring in the party. It also led to hashtags such as #NippyKnew and #ResignSturgeon being used on social media sites such as Twitter.

Origin

2018 Bute House sexual allegations

Allegations first came to light in 2018 after it was revealed that Salmond had groped two women in Bute House in Edinburgh, Scotland, the residence of the First Minister. After the allegations were made public, Salmond resigned as a member of the SNP as he was planning on taking the Scottish Government's civil servants to court after they made the claims against Salmond. Alex Salmond succeeded in the court and was paid Β£500,000 by the Scottish Government in response.

2020 High Court trial

Alex Salmond was arrested on January 24, 2019 and was charged with fourteen offences including sexual assault, attempted rape and obstruction of justice. He was released on bail and after leaving the Crown Court in Edinburgh, he said that he had no wrongdoing in the charges placed against him.

Alex Salmond was acquitted on all charges and stated that evidence which he planned to talk about in court would eventually see the light of day.

Scottish Parliament inquiry and ministerial code investigation

After Alex Salmond successfully took the Scottish Government to court due to the handling of sexual harassment cases against him, a Scottish Parliament inquiry was set up to investigate how the sexual harassment cases were handled. The inquiry first heard from Lesley Evans, permanent secretary to the Scottish Government.

Peter Murrell, the chief executive officer of the SNP was questioned on November 2020 by the committee. The evidence he gave was subject to criticism by the committee due to the inaccuracies of what he said which were later condradicted by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, his wife. In January 2021, Scottish Labour called for a perjury inquiry into Peter Murrell after they accused him of lying under oath at the inquiry meeting.

A ministerial code investigation was also set up to find out if Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code after she was accused of lying to parliament on when she first knew of harassment complaints. Nicola referred herself to the investigation in 2018. In December 2020, Alex Salmond accused Nicola Sturgeon of breaking the code and asked for it to be widened. Nicola Sturgeon strongly rejected the claims that she broke the ministerial code and accused Alex Salmond of spinning 'false conspiracy theories'. She also stated that she relished the opportunity to appear at the Scottish Parliament inquiry to give her account on what happened.

Alex Salmond's committee appearance



Alex Salmond appeared at the committee on February 26th, 2021 where he gave evidence to the committee for just over five hours. In his evidence session, he claimed that there was a plot to damage his reputation and even to an extent of imprisoning him and he also claimed that his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, broke the ministerial code however stated that he had no evidence to suggest Nicola Sturgeon conspired against him.

Reaction

Alex Salmond's appearance at the committee led to some stating that his performance was 'formidable' and was praised by those on the pro-Salmond faction of independence supporters. Sarah Smith, the Scotland editor for the BBC claimed that Alex Salmond stated that Nicola Sturgeon should resign if she broke the ministerial code. This led to criticism of her response and resulted in Sarah Smith rectifying her mistake on Twitter however there was severe calls for her to rectify her response on television.

No confidence motions in Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney

The Scottish Conservatives lodged a vote of no confidence in the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, for failing to release legal advice to the committee, after the Scottish Green Party (who hold the balance of power in the Scottish Parliament due to the current government being a minority government) stated that they would vote with the other opposition parties. Due to this, the government released the

On March 2nd, 2021, the Scottish Conservatives also lodged a vote of no confidence in Nicola Sturgeon as they already assumed she misled parliament and broke the ministerial code. This was met with heavy criticism as Nicola Sturgeon had yet to appear at the committee to give her evidence. After her evidence session, the Scottish Conservatives withdrew their vote of no confidence submission due to her evidence session and also with the Scottish Green Party, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats for failing to back their no confidence motion.

Nicola Sturgeon's committee appearance



Nicola Sturgeon was the final witness to the committee. She appeared on March 3rd, 2021 and spent eight hours giving evidence, the longest session of any committee meeting in the history of the Scottish Parliament. In her evidence, Nicola Sturgeon stated that claims of a plot 'to get Alex Salmond' were absurd and clarified strongly that she did not mislead parliament and broke the ministerial code.

Response

Nicola's appearance at the committee resulted in over 5,000 new members joining the SNP. The figure increased to 7,600 the next day. A lot of the new members were primarwomen. Some claimed that one factor of this was due to the comments made by committee member Murdo Fraser asking Nicola Sturgeon if she would apologise over Alex Salmond's behaviour which she rejected. On Twitter, the hashtag, #IStandWithNicola received over 36,600 tweets and trended number one and four in Scotland and the UK respectively.

Vietnam Group

On January 29th, 2021, SNP MP Kenny MacAskill, who is close with Alex Salmond, stated that there was a group chat set up which involved SNP ministers discussing the High Court trial. Claims were made by Craig Murray, who said that Nicola Sturgeon orchestrated the women who would later accuse Alex Salmond of sexual harassment.

These claims by Craig Murray were met with mixed responses after some in the independence movement supported Craig Murray's claims whilst others stated it was "poor conspiracy theories".

Reaction

2018 Bute House sexual allegation claims

After the claims were first made to the public, the political parties attacked Salmond and the SNP.

January 2019 arrest

Salmond's arrest was met with stories published on news sites and other media outlets including BBC News, Sky News and ITV News as well as various newspapers.

Again similar to the previous 2018 incident, several media outlets claimed that there was tension in the SNP and claimed that more civil war tension were made.

Salmond's arrest was made on the same day as the Scottish Parliament were planning First Minister's Questions. Before beginning, Ken Macintosh, the presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament addressed the members of the Parliament that it was an ongoing case and that it should not be a subject of debate during any further sessions in Parliament.

Claims of deliberately over arrest

There was also several claims that the arrest was deliberately staged and timed. Some claimed that because the Scottish independence movement was growing stronger and to because of the mess the UK Government were making over Brexit negotiations, they used the arrest as a 'scapegoat' to put a focus on the arrest of Salmond to the public eye.

Some also claimed that the arrest could have been deliberately timed in the run-up to Burns Night on January 25 with some commenting that it was suspicious.

Twitter user Joseph Given (@SweetTranslator) posted a picture which showed that BBC News had published an article focusing on Salmond's arrest, 10 hours before it released to the public.

Herald Scotland newspaper controversy

On March 7th, 2020, one day before the trial was to begin, Scottish newspaper Herald Scotland had published a piece in their paper by Neil Mackay comparing Alex Salmond's trial to the Yorkshire Ripper, Jon Venables

James Bulger's mother Denise called out the use of her son's picture alongside the convicted individuals and groups Alex Salmond was compared to.

See also

  • #SNPCivilWar -- a meme which had been created in response to the claims of pro-Union media outlets claiming that the allegations triggered a civil war within the SNP.

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