NICOLA Sturgeon has read out her WhatsApp messages to Alex Salmond live on television amid claims she’s hiding information from a Holyrood inquiry.

According to the Scottish Daily Mail, Salmond’s camp told the Scottish Parliament committee investigating the handling of harassment complaints against the former first minister that the current SNP leader hasn’t revealed all the relevant messages.

Sturgeon was asked about her predecessor and mentor, who was cleared of sexual assault charges earlier this year, on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

The host raised alleged discrepancies about when the First Minister said she knew about complaints. The FM told Ridge she was conflating different issues, stating :"What you're asking me about, what I've been asked about before is when I became aware of concerns that were specifically raised with the Scottish Government that were then investigated by the Scottish Government."

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Sturgeon said the wider issue of Salmond's behaviour was first raised when Sky News contacted the SNP about allegations in November 2017.

She commented: "I spoke to him about that at the time but that was different to the complaints that then came forward to the Scottish Government that are now the subject of the parliamentary inquiry."

The First Minister added: "All I've tried to do all along is make sure that complaints about senior people in politics can't be brushed under the carpet as has happened for generations.

"This was an issue of Alex Salmond's conduct here, yes he's been cleared of criminal charges but there were concerns raised that suggest that maybe he didn't always behave in this respect as he should have done and I've tried to do the right thing all along and I will continue to be upfront about that."

Asked about the WhatsApp messages, the SNP leader insisted all relevant messages had been handed to the Scottish Parliament inquiry.

Referencing the Daily Mail report, she said she had “Round about the time I spoke to [Salmond] about the Sky News query, I sent him a message on November 5 saying: ‘Hi, when you free to speak this morning?’”

“He replies: ‘10am’. That’s when I asked him what is this Sky thing.”

Sturgeon said she asked later that day if there had been “any developments”, and asked the next day if Salmond was “free for a word”.

“I was setting up a conversation that I have told the parliamentary inquiry about. It’s hardly a big revelation,” the First Minister told Ridge.

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She added: “Later that week, I message him to say ‘No wonder you didn’t want to tell me’. That’s just after I find out he’s agreed to host a regular show on Russia Today and it reflects my incredulity at that decision.”

The First Minister said Salmond’s response made an “oblique reference” to the Sky News query, insisting again that it’s not “a big revelation”.

Asked why she believes Salmond thinks the messages should have been shared with the inquiry, Sturgeon replied: “You’d have to ask him that.”

She went on: “I understand that for Alex Salmond it probably is better for the focus of this to be on people wanting to believe that there was a big conspiracy against him as opposed to the focus being on his conduct.”