NICOLA Sturgeon has urged the Holyrood inquiry into the Alex Salmond affair to compel her predecessor to appear before it.

Answering questions from Ruth Davidson and Jackie Baillie, the SNP leader said she was relishing the opportunity to give evidence next week.

But, she added, if the committee was “really interested in having proper full transparency, it will ensure that everybody who has relevant information to offer comes before it and does so fully, openly, on the record and on oath”.

It’s increasingly unlikely Alex Salmond will now appear before MSPs. He was supposed to be in front of the committee on Tuesday, but pulled out after Parliament refused to publish his submission to the separate Ministerial Code probe.

His legal team claims that refusal means that accusations in the paper can’t be discussed and that he’s therefore unable to tell the whole truth.

The committee is looking into the Scottish Government’s botched handling of allegations of harassment made against Salmond by two civil servants.

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He had the exercise set aside in January 2019, with a judicial review declaring it “unlawful” and “tainted by bias”. The Government’s flawed process ultimately cost the taxpayer more than half a million pounds.

At a later criminal case the former SNP leader was cleared of 12 charges of sexual assault.

Following the Scottish Government’s decision to concede the judicial review, Sturgeon referred herself to the independent advisers on the Ministerial Code over claims she had broken strict rules by failing to swiftly declare the three meetings and two phone calls with Salmond about the harassment complaints.

Scottish Government guidelines say that when discussing official business “any significant content” should be reported back to private offices.

James Hamilton, a former director of public prosecutions in Ireland, has been tasked with investigating the First Minister’s actions.

In his submission to the Hamilton inquiry, Salmond claimed the First Minister had “repeatedly misled” MSPs about the nature of meetings between the two at Sturgeon’s home.

While she says they were party work, he suggests they were clearly to discuss Government business.

Sturgeon told Parliament that she became 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, it later emerged that she met Geoff Aberdein, Salmond’s former chief of staff, in her office on March 29, 2018.

In her evidence to the cross-party Holyrood inquiry, Sturgeon said she had forgotten about the meeting, which was “fleeting” and took place on a busy day.

In his submission to Hamilton, Salmond said this was “untenable”.

Labour’s interim leader Jackie Baillie raised that meeting with Aberdein during First Minister’s Questions.

She said: “The First Minister claimed to have forgotten about that meeting and told the Parliament that it was ‘fleeting’ and ‘opportunistic’, but the meeting was pre-arranged for the specific purpose of discussing the complaints that were made against Alex Salmond.”

Baillie said this was in breach of the Ministerial Code compelling ministers to “give accurate and truthful information to the Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead the Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation”.

Three times the Labour leader asked Sturgeon if she would resign if found to have breached the Ministerial Code.

Sturgeon replied: “I do not believe that I did breach the Ministerial Code, so I will not engage with that hypothetical question.

“When James Hamilton QC issues his report, we can have an open discussion on the basis of whatever findings he arrives at, just as we will, no doubt, have an open discussion when the committee arrives at whatever findings it arrives at.”

Sturgeon said she suspected that for Baillie and some Tories “it doesn’t matter what I say on Tuesday, the press releases will already be written”.

Ruth Davidson said there had clearly been “a cover up at the heart of Government”.

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Sturgeon said: “I’ve had accusations levelled at me now for two years, and I’ve not been able to answer those fully, firstly because of ongoing criminal proceedings and latterly out of respect to the process of this committee.

“It’s not me that’s refusing to sit in front of the committee,” she added.

“I’m relishing the prospect of doing that and then people can hear my account, and they can make up their own minds. In the meantime, I’ll get on with doing the job that people across this country want me to do, which is to get on with leading this country through a pandemic.”

Meanwhile, The Spectator magazine is heading to court today in a bid to seek a ruling that would ultimately put the legality of publishing Salmond’s submission to Hamilton beyond doubt.

Supporters of Salmond say that if the magazine wins it could mean that other documents the committee have refused to publish could enter the public domain. That may even include evidence from Aberdein.

The magazine is applying to vary the contempt of court order which makes it illegal to identify the women who made allegations against the former First Minister.

The application will be heard by Lady Dorrian, who made the order and presided over Salmond’s criminal trial.