NICOLA Sturgeon is looking forward to “setting the record straight” and taking on “absurd, contradictory and utterly baseless conspiracy theories” when she appears before a Holyrood committee.
A spokesperson for the First Minister also said she had been subject to a litany of “smear, innuendo and outright falsehoods” made over the Scottish Government’s handling of harassment complaints against her predecessor Alex Salmond.
Sturgeon is expected to give evidence next week to the Scottish Parliament committee which is examining the issue.
The strongly worded statement has been issued ahead of a crunch few days for the inquiry. Tomorrow SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – who is the husband of the First Minister – will return to give more evidence to MSPs.
Salmond is also due to give evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday – but his appearance has been thrown into doubt after the committee refused to publish documents submitted by him, which accuse Sturgeon of misleading parliament.
Yesterday it was reported he will not attend the session and instead hold a press conference if a solution cannot be found.
A spokesperson for the First Minister said: “She knows and accepts that the scrutiny of her and the Scottish Government’s handling of the complaints made about Mr Salmond’s behaviour is entirely legitimate.
“However, she is relishing the opportunity to answer the questions asked of her and to set the record straight.”
The spokesperson said she is looking forward to taking on “absurd, contradictory and utterly baseless conspiracy theories” that have been allowed to “spread, unchecked and unchallenged”. He added: “The First Minister has been subjected to a litany of smear, innuendo and outright falsehoods throughout this affair.”
Allies of Salmond, who was cleared of all sexual offence allegations last year, believe he was targeted by SNP figures and the government. This has been repeatedly denied by Sturgeon.
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