Latest news with #Alex Salmond
BreakingNews.ie
5 days ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Sturgeon: I was not victim of ‘coercive control' by former mentor Salmond
Former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon rejected claims she had been the victim of coercive control by her predecessor Alex Salmond, although she said she wished she had done more to stand up against his 'bullying' of others. She also said that her confidence could be 'knocked' by disapproval from Mr Salmond – saying her former boss and one-time mentor 'probably played on that a little bit'. Advertisement And while she said she had heard rumours of 'consensual affairs', she had no knowledge of any 'inappropriate sexual behaviour on his part'. The former SNP leader spoke about her relationship with Mr Salmond as she appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Thursday. Nicola Sturgeon was questioned on her relationship with her predecessor, Alex Salmond (Andrew Milligan/PA) While she said they had an 'incredibly successful partnership' at one point, their relationship broke down after allegations against Mr Salmond emerged. The former first minister went on trial on a series of sexual assault charges in 2020, with this resulting in Mr Salmond being acquitted of all the charges against him. Advertisement Speaking about him to broadcaster Kirsty Wark, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I did not have knowledge of inappropriate behaviour on his part, any inappropriate sexual behaviour.' However, she said: 'I heard rumours over the years about affairs, consensual affairs. I took the view, rightly or wrongly, that that was none of my business, what consenting adults get up to is their business.' Pressing the former first minister on her relationship with her predecessor, Ms Wark said that Ms Sturgeon's newly published memoirs, Frankly, portrayed Mr Salmond as 'almost Svengali like'. The journalist added: 'In a way, there's almost like a thread of coercive control at some times in this book from Alex Salmond.' Advertisement Ms Sturgeon rejected this, saying she 'wouldn't describe it as that'. She said Mr Salmond, who died in October 2024, had been 'an incredibly strong, incredibly charismatic individual', adding that for much of her life 'he was a force for good'. Nicola Sturgeon was close friends with Alex Salmond but they fell out in the later years of his life (Jane Barlow/PA) Speaking about him, Ms Sturgeon said: 'He encouraged me to reach beyond what I would have considered my abilities to be, he pushed me on. 'I once said, ages ago, that he believed in me before I believed in myself.' Advertisement But she added that 'his approval mattered to me and his disapproval knocked my confidence'. Ms Sturgeon continued: 'Latterly, he probably played on that a little bit.' Nicola Sturgeon, centre, with broadcaster Kirsty Wark, left, ahead of her appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (Jane Barlow/PA) Ms Wark suggested that Mr Salmond had 'definitely undermined' Ms Sturgeon 'a lot of the time'. The former first minister, however, told her: 'He also bolstered me a lot of the time.' Advertisement Recalling Mr Salmond, Ms Sturgeon said that to describe him as a bully 'is maybe putting it too strongly', but she added that 'he could behave in a bullying manner'. Asked if she challenged his behaviour, the former first minister stated: 'I don't think I did it enough, but yes, I did. 'I would on occasion, people would have seen me do it, when he was giving the hairdryer treatment to whatever member of staff, I would say, 'enough Alex'.' But she added: 'I wish I had done it more.' After she took over as leader of the SNP, Mr Salmond had advised her not to keep her then husband, Peter Murrell, in his post as chief executive of the party. At the time, Ms Sturgeon rejected this, with Mr Murrell only stepping down from the role in March 2023 – the month after Ms Sturgeon announced her decision to step down as first minister and SNP leader. She said: 'I can look back now and say, maybe, I should have taken a different decision. 'That is something I probably got wrong.' The couple have now separated and, in March this year, the former SNP chief executive appeared in court charged with embezzlement following a police investigation into party finances, However, Ms Sturgeon insisted that she 'did not think' her decision to keep her then-husband in his party role was the start of the the 'fissure' in her relationship with Mr Salmond. 'I don't think that created any tension between us,' she said.
Telegraph
12-08-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Sturgeon: Late Queen asked for gossip on Alex Salmond sex scandal
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.'
Daily Mail
11-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sturgeon: The Queen quizzed me on Salmond sex claims
The late Queen asked for 'gossip' about the Alex Salmond sex claims, the former First Minister has claimed. The Monarch immediately asked for details when the women met at Balmoral Castle a few weeks after misconduct claims against Mr Salmond first emerged in 2018. Claiming the Queen 'loved a bit of gossip', Ms Sturgeon wrote in her autobiography Frankly: 'She asked me about it almost as soon as I sat down. She wanted to know more of what was going on.' Describing herself as a republican 'at heart and by instinct', Ms Sturgeon lavishes praise on the late Queen as 'utterly fascinating' and 'an incredible woman'. She says she was 'struck by the aura' she 'exuded as she entered the room', and said she had 'a mystique' around her that no other member of the Royal Family has. Ms Sturgeon's 470-page book is officially released on Thursday, when she is due to talk about it at the Edinburgh Book Festival. But copies went on sale in branches of Waterstones across Scotland yesterday, with the company insisting no sales embargo was in place. Writing about a visit she and her husband Peter Murrell made to Balmoral in September 2018, Ms Sturgeon said she enjoyed her audiences with the Queen at the Highland estate. She wrote: 'She was always relaxed and chatty, and these sessions would typically last for around an hour.' She said chatting to the late Queen was like 'being given a window' onto all the major events of twentieth century history. Ms Sturgeon added: 'She also loved a bit of gossip. She always wanted to hear the stories behind the political headlines.' She said she had an audience with the monarch at Balmoral just a couple of weeks after the allegations about Alex Salmond emerged. Ms Sturgeon said she assumed she wouldn't mention it, but wrote: '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.' She said she felt she was 'able to talk freely', and 'open up and share whatever was on my mind'. Mr Salmond, who died aged 69 last October, always considered himself something of a favourite of the Queen because of their mutual love of horseracing. Ms Sturgeon insists in her book she is a republican, and describes kneeling and kissing the monarch's hand to join the Privy Council as somewhat 'strange'. But she is also clearly impressed by the late Queen, calling her time with her 'special'. She writes: 'I am not a monarchist by instinct, but the private time I spent with the Queen ranks as one of the great privileges of my life. 'It was clear from our first meeting that she was an extraordinary woman.' She is less flattering about Prince William, now Prince of Wales, complaining his office was 'disingenuous' about a 2021 private meeting in which she avoided politics. It later emerged he had met former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown around the same time 'for balance' on the independence question. Ms Sturgeon said in her view 'it wasn't right to suggest' any balance was needed. In a statement, Waterstones said: 'The publication date does not necessarily equal an on-sale date unless the publisher puts an embargo in place. In other revelations in the new book, Ms Sturgeon: * Admitted that the controversy over her botched bid to force through gender reforms was 'one of the most bruising episodes' of her entire time in politics and that she 'lost the dressing room' over trans rapist Isla Bryston being sent to a women's prison. * Condemned JK Rowling's 'Sturgeon, destroyer of women's right' t-shirt as a 'stunt' and claimed it 'was never going to elevate the debate or illuminate the issues at the heart of it'. * Described a phone call with US President Donald Trump as being like 'a bad acid dream' * Revealed that the late Sir Sean Connery gave her speaking lessons and told her she should deepen her voice. * Said she 'felt sick' reading about sex pest minister Derek Mackay's approach to a schoolboy but still counts him as a 'friend'. Ms Sturgeon, who is standing stand down as an MSP next year, admitted she remained 'haunted' by the decisions she took - and didn't take - during the Covid pandemic. Even thinking about the period unleashed 'a torrent of emotion', she said. She described it as the hardest period of her career, adding: 'I still agonise over what I might have done differently. I think part of me always will.' But it would ultimately be for 'history' to judge whether the right calls were made on testing care home patients, infection controls and lockdown. Sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Salmond first emerged in late August 2018, when the Daily Record revealed he had been the subject of a Scottish Government investigation after complaints from two female civil servants. He later had the probe set aside in a judicial review at the Court of Session, showing it had been unfair, unlawful and 'tainted by apparent bias', getting back £512,000 in legal fees.
Times
11-08-2025
- Politics
- Times
Alex Salmond's allies turn on Nicola Sturgeon over leak claims
Nicola Sturgeon is facing a backlash over her claim that Alex Salmond may have been behind a newspaper leak that he was under investigation for the sexual harassment of two women. The former first minister and SNP leader suggested in her memoir Frankly, which has been serialised by The Times and The Sunday Times, that her predecessor gave the story to a tabloid. In the book, Sturgeon denied leaking the details herself or being part of a wider conspiracy against the man she once regarded as a friend and mentor. But she added it would have been 'classic Alex' to have been behind the leak as he was practised in the 'dark arts' of media manipulation and might have wanted to take control of the narrative and paint himself as a 'victim'. Her remarks caused outrage among friends and allies of Salmond, who died last year, aged 69 still determined to restore his public reputation and prove that he had been wronged by his former party. • Iain Macwhirter: Dancing on Alex Salmond's grave does Nicola Sturgeon no favours The twice SNP leader was cleared in 2020 of 13 sexual offences at the High Court in Edinburgh. Even his lawyer admitted Salmond 'could have been a better man'. There has been feverish speculation over who leaked details of an initial government investigation into his conduct as first minister to the Daily Record in August 2018. Alex Neil, a former SNP minister, said Sturgeon should issue a retraction and offer an apology to Salmond's widow, Moira, 'for the hurt she has caused her'. Sir David Davis, the former Conservative minister and a long-term friend of Salmond, said: 'Everybody knows it wasn't Alex who leaked it. End of story. If you want to know who it was, go on Twitter [X].' David Clegg, the journalist who broke the story of the investigation in the Daily Record, said Sturgeon's claim was 'not credible'. He told the BBC1 Sunday Show: 'I find that a conspiracy theory too far, but I think it shows the level of suspicion and the deep rift that had formed between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon prior to his death.' Clegg, who now edits the Dundee-based Courier, said that even he did not know who had sent a document about the inquiry to the paper. 'There is obviously some mystery and speculation about what went on seven years ago and how that happened,' he added. 'But if it was Alex Salmond who had leaked it, when I phoned him up that night to put the claims to him, he did an incredible acting job of seeming surprised and shocked.' Salmond left the SNP after claims about his conduct emerged and formed the Alba Party in 2021. Kenny MacAskill, Alba's leader, accused Sturgeon of 'rewriting history'. Chris McEleny, another Salmond loyalist, said: 'Nicola might think she can fabricate her own version of the truth now that Alex is no longer here but the reality is her book will end up in a bargain basket whilst Alex Salmond will reside in the pages of the Scottish history books.' In the memoir Sturgeon recalls the moment in April 2018 at her home on the outskirts of Glasgow when Salmond informed her of the allegations against him. 'The substance of the complaints, one in particular, shocked me. I felt sick', she wrote. However, Sturgeon added that it quickly became evident her predecessor as first minister wanted her 'to intervene and to stop the investigation in its tracks or divert it into some kind of siding'. Her refusal to do so, she said, made the break-up of one of the most successful partnerships in modern British politics all but inevitable. In 2019 the findings of a judicial review into the Scottish government investigation — which had also been leaked to the Record the day before publication — concluded that the Scottish government's investigation into Salmond's alleged misconduct was unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias. Salmond was awarded £500,000 of public money for legal expenses. Joanna Cherry KC, a former SNP MP and Salmond loyalist, posted on X: 'The idea that Alex leaked the existence of them [the allegations] to the Daily Record is ludicrous.' Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour's deputy leader, said: 'Remarkably Nicola Sturgeon's memory of events seems to be returning, as she appeared to suffer from amnesia when she was before the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of sexual harassment complaints against Alex Salmond. 'As a result of her dismal lack of delivery in office, Nicola Sturgeon's legacy will be defined instead by political division and personal drama.' The Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: 'It is disappointing that, when Nicola Sturgeon had the opportunity to tell the whole story to the committee, she did not at that point tell us what she is saying now. It seems that book sales matter more to her than being open and truthful when it mattered.' Sturgeon was also facing intense criticism over her admission, in her book, that she may have been 'wiser' not to drag her heels on gender ID. The former first minister's bills to make it easier for people to change their sex in official paperwork dogged her final years in office. The legislation passed in Holyrood but was blocked by the Conservative UK government. In an interview with ITV's Julie Etchingham on Sunday night Sturgeon appeared to go further and said she should have 'paused' the bill. She said that she had not expected her proposed law to provoke such a backlash. Sturgeon said: 'I didn't, I think, anticipate as much as I should have, some of the concerns that might be triggered. At the point I felt it was becoming polarised, I should have said, 'Right, OK, let's pause'.'However, she told Etchingham that she remained convinced that the rights of trans people and women were 'not irreconcilable at all'. Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at gender-critical human rights charity Sex Matters, said before the interview was broadcast: 'Sturgeon's reflections are much too little and years too late. Gender self-ID was deeply unpopular and her government's attempt to force it through was anti-democratic. 'She deserved the consequences, but the Scottish people didn't. It's clear from her remarks that Sturgeon still fails to understand the importance of sex-based rights, which shows her lack of intellectual integrity and compassion.' Trina Budge, a director of For Women Scotland, another gender critical group, said: 'With the benefit of hindsight, though, it is perhaps fortuitous that she did dig her heels in. A softer and less pig-headed approach would not have brought the matter to a head in the conclusive way it did, with self-ID crushed in the courts and the biological definition of woman resolved once and for all.' There was some sympathy for Sturgeon over the weekend. Val McDermid, the crime novelist, said the former first minister, a friend, had been treated 'appallingly' by the police and the media.
