THE Tories have called for the First Minister’s chief of staff to be sacked over claims she revealed the name of one of the women who alleged she’d been harassed by Alex Salmond.
In a submission to the investigation over whether not Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code, the former First Minister claims Liz Lloyd shared the complainers name with his former chief of staff Geoff Aberdein.
Tory chief Douglas Ross, said if the claim was true, it was an “appalling act that entirely betrays those women’s right to confidentiality”.
However, the government say the accusation is “untrue”.
In the submission - which was obtained in full by the Wings Over Scotland site - Salmond states: ”I was contacted by phone on or around 9 March 2018 and further the following week by Geoff Aberdein, my former Chief of Staff. The purpose of the contact was to tell me about meetings he had held with the First Minister’s Chief of Staff, Liz Lloyd, at her request.
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“In the second of these meetings she had informed him that she was aware of two complaints concerning me under a new complaints process introduced to include former Ministers. She named one of the complainers to him. At that stage I did not know the identity of the other complainer.”
He says that Aberdein had been asked by Lloyd to “be her contact with me and they jointly arranged a meeting with the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament on 29th March 2018.”
That meeting has become critical to the investigations.
Initially, after the Scottish Government conceded the judicial review in January 2019, Sturgeon told parliament that she had first become aware of the government’s investigation of the allegations against Salmond when he told her at a meeting in her Glasgow home on April 2, 2018.
However, when it later emerged that she met Aberdein, Sturgeon told the cross-party Holyrood inquiry she had forgotten that meeting.
She said: “However, from what I recall, the discussion covered the fact that Alex Salmond wanted to see me urgently about a serious matter, and I think it did cover the suggestion that the matter might relate to allegations of a sexual nature."
In his submission, Salmond said: “This meeting was for the purpose of discussing the complaints and thereafter arranging a direct meeting between myself and the First Minister. There was never the slightest doubt what the meeting was about. Any suggestion by the First Minister to the Scottish Parliament that the meeting was ‘fleeting or opportunistic’ is simply untrue.
“The pre-arranged meeting in the Scottish Parliament of 29th March 2018 was ‘forgotten’ about because acknowledging it would have rendered ridiculous the claim made by the First Minister in Parliament that it had been believed that the meeting on 2nd April was on SNP Party business and thus held at her private residence.”
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Ross said: “As a special adviser, the rules show that Liz Lloyd had no right to know of the investigation in early to mid March. The First Minister herself initially claimed not to find out until April, before she changed her story when evidence of the secret meeting emerged.
“The First Minister must now provide evidence to refute these claims or if they are true, sack Liz Lloyd for gross misconduct.
“Nicola Sturgeon must also finally tell the truth about the 29 March meeting. If it was indeed “pre-arranged”, then she’s blatantly lied to the Scottish Parliament.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This claim is untrue. The Scottish Government has protected the identities of the complainants throughout.
“The First Minister has set out her contacts with Mr Salmond in detail to Parliament. She stands by her statements and the detailed written evidence she has provided, including in relation to the meeting on 29 March 2018.”
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