Sturgeon: Late Queen asked for gossip on Alex Salmond sex scandal

Telegraph

2 days ago

Elizabeth II asked for 'gossip' about sexual misconduct allegations against Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon has claimed.
The former Scottish first minister said the late Queen requested to hear 'the stories behind the political headlines' during their audiences at Balmoral.
Mr Salmond, who was Ms Sturgeon's predecessor as first minister and SNP leader, left the party in 2018 after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged.
Writing about Elizabeth II in her autobiography Frankly, Ms Sturgeon said: 'She also loved a bit of gossip. She always wanted to hear the stories behind the political headlines.'
Recalling a meeting with the late Queen around a fortnight after the first complaints were made against Mr Salmond, she said: 'She asked me about it almost as soon as I sat down.
'She wasn't being trivial in any way, she wanted to know more of what was going on. I think she was also trying to put me at ease.'
The 55-year-old republican went on to praise Queen Elizabeth, saying she felt 'able to talk freely' in her presence and 'share whatever was on my mind'.
Following a police investigation, Mr Salmond was charged with 13 sexual offences, including attempted rape, but was acquitted on all counts in 2020.
He successfully sued Ms Sturgeon's government in 2019 for its handling of an investigation into the sexual harassment complaints made against him.
But his latter years were dominated by claims and counter-claims surrounding his conduct up to his death in 2024.
Mr Salmond claimed that many in the SNP had colluded against him in an effort to block his return to front-line politics and went on to establish the rival Alba Party in 2021.
In another extract from the memoir, Ms Sturgeon said Mr Salmond tried to 'destroy' her after she refused to intervene in the allegations he faced, adding that he had sought revenge for failing 'to stop the investigation in its tracks'.
Far-Right 'weaponised' trans row
On Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon blamed 'forces on the far-Right' for exploiting the transgender row that triggered her political downfall.
She resigned as first minister in 2023 after her plan to allow trans people to self-identify their legal gender lost her the support of SNP colleagues.
Ms Sturgeon later expressed regret over the pace of her changes, but has insisted in an interview with BBC Breakfast that the issue was weaponised by political groups wanting to 'push back on rights more generally'.
She said: 'There are also people – and I don't know how people can deny this – forces on the far-Right who've weaponised this issue, who want to, I think, use the trans issue to push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights or minority rights or women's rights actually.
'And some of the abuse I've had on this issue – ironically, given that it's often in the name of women's safety – has been misogynist.'
She acknowledged that the 'vast majority' of people on the opposite side of the trans debate have 'genuine' concerns.
Ms Sturgeon went on to claim that trans and women's rights are not mutually exclusive despite concerns over single-sex spaces.
'I have been a feminist all my life, I will be a feminist to the day I die – hopefully a long time in the future,' she said.
'But I'm also someone who came into politics to champion the rights of minorities, to progress equality, to stand up for people who are discriminated against and stigmatised. And trans people are probably one of the most stigmatised groups in our society.
'And I don't believe [...] that trans rights and women's rights are in opposition. I believe that we can further both and actually furthering one helps further the other,' she added.
Ms Sturgeon also admitted this week that rapists such as Isla Bryson should 'probably forfeit' their right to self-identify as women.
She abruptly quit as SNP leader amid a scandal caused by the trans double rapist being initially placed in a female jail.
Despite Ms Sturgeon's public insistence that she had simply run out of energy, SNP sources insisted at the time that the fallout from her transgender policies had been key to her demise.
One of the former leader's staunchest critics was JK Rowling, who has argued that sex is immutable.
Asked whether she would debate the Harry Potter author on the issue, Ms Sturgeon replied: 'There's some people in this debate who spend a lot more time thinking about me than I do thinking about them. But I will always stand up for rights for equality, for minority rights.
'There are times in my own political career where I would have made my own life easier by staying silent on some things. I don't want to be that person, I want to stand up for the things I believe in with joy and passion.'
Pressed on the prospect of a debate, she said: 'I will debate with many people but I don't think JK Rowling would be willing to do that.'
Writing in the memoir, Ms Sturgeon said that her life after politics has been a 'delayed adolescence' and disclosed that she could move outside Scotland in the future.
In a subsequent interview with the BBC's Newscast podcast, she added: 'Suffocating is maybe putting it too strongly, but I feel sometimes I can't breathe freely in Scotland.
'This may shock many people to hear, but I love London.'
Despite saying she had found a 'sense of well-being' since stepping back from front-line politics, Ms Sturgeon said she would be keen to play a central role in the event of another Scottish independence referendum.
She said: 'If there is a referendum on Scottish independence, it will be a case of 'hold me back' – I'll be there.'