POLICE Scotland’s former top officer Phil Gormley has claimed he was put under political pressure to hire a Scot when he was trying to fill a vacant post for a deputy chief constable.

During a meeting in September last year, Gormley was allegedly told by Andrew Flanagan, the then chair of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), that “there would be major presentational and political problems if either of the two internal (Scottish) candidates were passed over given how this would impact on the proportion of senior officers who were of Scottish national origin”.

According to papers obtained by The Times, Gormley said he was told the Scottish Government were also “party to these concerns”.

He said: “As a senior officer of English national origin myself, this concerned me. The national origin of any candidate (from within the United Kingdom) should have no bearing on the selection process.

“This issue and the very mention of the national origin of senior officers gave rise to an inference that issues of race may be at play in relation to my own position at Police Scotland and the difficulties I have faced there.”

Gormley made the claims in October last year to the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (Pirc), who were examining bullying allegations made against him by Malcolm Graham, the assistant chief constable.

Graham was one of the Scottish applicants for the deputy post.

Gormley left the force in February this year. At the time he quit the Pirc was investigating four complaints against the chief, while another three were being assessed internally.

Gormley, who recently took up a senior post with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services in England, did not comment, but David Morgan, his solicitor, said that the former chief would co-operate with any official request by the Scottish Government or Parliament.

However, a Parliament spokesperson said the sub-committee on policing “had no plans to hear from Mr Gormley”.

A government spokesman said it was a matter for the SPA.