Nicola Sturgeon: Alex Salmond benefited most from leak of misconduct investigation
Alex Salmond “benefited” from the leak of details about a sexual misconduct investigation because it allowed him to portray himself as a “victim”, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Launching her memoirs at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Sturgeon also said Salmond did not “want to see the SNP succeed without him”.
Speaking on stage at McEwan Hall, the former first minister praised her former mentor but said many of her greatest political moments were also now tainted with sadness after the relationship between the pair broke down.
She told Kirsty Wark that “for much of my life he was a force for good” and that the SNP “would not have won government in 2007 without him”.
But reflecting on his public disagreements in recent years with the party he once led, Sturgeon said: “There was a sense that he didn’t want to see the SNP succeed without him.”
Salmond stood down the day after Scotland voted to remain a part of the UK in September 2014.
He had told Sturgeon of his intention to step down if ‘no’ won in July of that year, but Sturgeon said she “didn’t think he would”.
In the event, she said she “tried to talk him out of it” and, had he known what was coming in terms of politics, “I’m not sure he would have stood down”.
The pair’s partnership particularly soured after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged. In her book, Frankly, Sturgeon suggests the leaking of the government investigation into Salmond would have been “classic Alex”.
His allies have hit out at the suggestion, labelling Sturgeon a “hypocrite” and calling the claim a “fabrication”.
Pressed by Wark on stage, Sturgeon said: “I’m not saying he did it – I have no evidence that he did it – but it would have been classic Alex to do it. He was a gambler. That paid off hugely sometimes, other times it didn’t.
“What I do know is this: he was the one that benefited from that leak because he was then able to turn himself into… and that’s what gave this genesis to his claim that he was a victim of underhand dealing.”
Sturgeon also said she had “heard rumours” of Salmond having affairs, but took the view it was “none of my business”.
One prominent critic of Sturgeon and Salmond ally, former SNP MP Joanna Cherry, is set to publish her own memoirs next year. She has said this will include information which proves Salmond was the victim of a “conspiracy to pervert the course of justice”.
Asked about this, Sturgeon said of Cherry: “There are certain people in this world who spend a lot more time thinking about me than I spend thinking about them.”
The former first minister was also asked about her time in office, touching on the failure to close the attainment gap, the multiple elections she fought, and her attempts to reform the Gender Recognition Act.
On the latter, she warned that the side arguing against reform had been “hijacked” by transphobes.
She said that while she did not believe everyone who opposed the now-abandoned legislation was transphobic or homophobic, some were and it was the “soft underbelly of prejudice”.
But she accepted she had not been inclusive enough of other views in her push to get the Gender Recognition Reform Bill passed.
She added the debate had become “toxic” on both sides and went on to highlight some of the social media abuse she had received just in recent days, including rape threats and people accusing her of lying about her miscarriage.
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