Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared

[Chippy_Tea]

Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code over her involvement in the Alex Salmond saga.
An independent inquiry by senior Irish lawyer James Hamilton had been examining whether the first minister misled parliament over what she knew and when.
Mr Hamilton said he was of the opinion that Ms Sturgeon had not breached any of the provisions of the code.
The code sets out the standards expected of government ministers.
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[Brew_DD2]

Will be interesting to see what Salmond's next move is. The egotistical blimp won't let it drop. No doubt she knew earlier than she claims she did about the complaints. That being said, she was caught between a rock and a hard place when legal proceedings started.

She stands accused of wasting £500k of taxpayers money in pursuing the cases against Salmond, despite being told they wouldn't win. Could you imagine if she'd instructed the legal team to climb down?!

Glad she's been cleared on all counts of breaking the ministerial code. For me, if she had, she'd have had to resign, and the SNP is woefully short of talent. The independence cause would've been set back 10-20 years.

 

[Brewnaldo]

The desperation of the Scottish Tories (And David Davies) has really come home to roost. What an embarrassment for them. So starved of a politician in Sturgeons class for so long, they really thought this utter nonsense was a silver bullet, to the point they couldnt hide their glee or the fact that they had clearly pre judged the case along with Jackie Baillie.

I wonder if the spologies will be as public as the slander........ One suspects not.

 

[LeeH]

Hardly a shocking result. Cleared by a guy who works for the SNP and investigating the person who appointed him to his current role. Shocked....

I hope Scotland does get another vote, and one after that and so on until the SNP gets the right result. That how referendums work don’t they?

Scotland can then enjoy their INDEPENDENCE until they (if they are allowed in) join the EU again and can be ran by a unelected rabble in Brussels.

Good luck and tally ho.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared

Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code over her involvement in the Alex Salmond saga.

An independent inquiry by senior Irish lawyer James Hamilton had been examining whether the first minister misled the Scottish Parliament over what she knew and when.

His report said Ms Sturgeon had given an "incomplete narrative of events" to MSPs.

But he said this was a "genuine failure of recollection" and not deliberate.

Mr Hamilton said he was therefore of the opinion that Ms Sturgeon had not breached any of the provisions of the code.

The code sets out the standards expected of Scottish government ministers, and states that anyone who deliberately misleads Holyrood would be expected to resign.

• What is the Salmond and Sturgeon row all about?
• LIVE: Reaction as Nicola Sturgeon is cleared of wrongdoing

Mr Hamilton concluded in his report that Ms Sturgeon did not breach the ministerial code in respect of any of the four issues he considered.

These included allegations that Ms Sturgeon had failed to record a series of meetings and telephone discussions with Mr Salmond and others in 2018.

Mr Hamilton concluded that the meetings were government business - contrary to Ms Sturgeon's claims that they were a party matter - but accepted her reasoning that "it would have been impossible to record such meetings or discussions without a risk of prejudicing the proceedings or interfering with their confidentiality".

He also looked at whether the first minister "may have attempted to influence the conduct of the investigation" into the harassment complaints made against Mr Salmond, her predecessor as first minister and SNP leader.

The lawyer said the key point was that Ms Sturgeon had not intervened, and said that had Mr Salmond really believed she had agreed to it during a meeting on 2 April 2018 then, "one might have expected him to follow it up and to press home his advantage" - but that no further contact was made for three weeks

Full article now on BBC - Nicola Sturgeon cleared of breaching ministerial code over Alex Salmond saga

James Hamilton's conclusions are undoubtedly a significant boost for the first minister and her party.

In two days, the starting gun will be fired on the Scottish election campaign.

Ms Sturgeon will go into it saying her independent advisor cleared her. Her team see it as "complete vindication".

Remember there is another report to be published tomorrow morning, by the Holyrood committee.

We know a majority of the committee believe Ms Sturgeon misled them in her evidence - so the issue of trust will no doubt continue to be part of the election campaign.

But Team Sturgeon is very happy tonight - going into an election campaign which could prove very important in determining whether there is another independence referendum.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Hardly a shocking result. Cleared by a guy who works for the SNP and investigating the person who appointed him to his current role. Shocked..

He was also originally appointed by Salmond. What's your point? Maybe look into his credentials before making potentially libelous comments.

Scotland will continue to hold referendums as long as the population votes for the SNP in the numbers they have for the last decade. That's how democracy works.

 

[MickDundee]

Hardly a shocking result. Cleared by a guy who works for the SNP and investigating the person who appointed him to his current role. Shocked....

He’s an Irish QC who acts as an independent advisor to the Scottish government. Appointed by Salmond originally funnily enough. Not entirely sure how that makes him biased given he was appointed because he is independent. And even if he was “employed by the SNP” does the Law Society’s code of ethics not apply to him?

I don’t want to be rude but your entire post (not just the bit I’ve quoted) serves no purpose but to provoke other posters. It’s not big and it’s not clever - it just makes you come across as a “little Englander”.

For the record I’m actually an indie-sceptic, so it’s not even that you’ve hit a nerve with me as an SNP voter or anything (although I have voted for them in the past and probably will in future but not this time).

 

[Brew_DD2]

I don’t want to be rude but your entire post (not just the bit I’ve quoted) serves no purpose but to provoke other posters. It’s not big and it’s not clever - it just makes you come across as a “little Englander”

Unfortunately the sneering attitude seems all too common on here. Just about done with it. Not the friendly place it purports to be. Unless your face fits.

 

[MickDundee]

Unfortunately the sneering attitude seems all too common on here. Just about done with it. Not the friendly place it purports to be. Unless your face fits.

To be honest (as well as the fact that I’ve been running down my stocks in preparation for my garage conversion) it’s one of the main reasons I’ve been less active on here recently.

I know they can say “just ask for The Snug to be hidden” but I don’t want that - I want it to be moderated properly to allow proper debate. It feels like recently as long as you are posting with a particular stance (don’t want to use the B word) then you can say whatever you want.

 

[Brew_DD2]

To be honest (as well as the fact that I’ve been running down my stocks in preparation for my garage conversion) it’s one of the main reasons I’ve been less active on here recently.

I know they can say “just ask for The Snug to be hidden” but I don’t want that - I want it to be moderated properly to allow proper debate. It feels like recently as long as you are posting with a particular stance (don’t want to use the B word) then you can say whatever you want.

Nail on head. Thought I was losing the plot

 

[Hanglow]

There wasn't really much to get her for by the looks of things. I'm still waiting for the inquiry into de Pfeffel getting parliament suspended unlawfully. Won't hold my breath with that happening considering the current conservative government are a bit too busy awarding juicy contracts to each other under the guise of covid.

Hardly a shocking result. Cleared by a guy who works for the SNP and investigating the person who appointed him to his current role. Shocked....

I hope Scotland does get another vote, and one after that and so on until the SNP gets the right result. That how referendums work don’t they?

Scotland can then enjoy their INDEPENDENCE until they (if they are allowed in) join the EU again and can be ran by a unelected rabble in Brussels.

Good luck and tally ho.

Brexshit ******** again, why do you care about the EU from our sunlit uplands? And what do you think about the house of lords?

 

[GhostShip]

He was also originally appointed by Salmond. What's your point? Maybe look into his credentials before making potentially libelous comments.

Scotland will continue to hold referendums as long as the population votes for the SNP in the numbers they have for the last decade. That's how democracy works.

You’ve just used ‘SNP’ and ‘democracy’ in the same paragraph.

 

[MickDundee]

You’ve just used ‘SNP’ and ‘democracy’ in the same paragraph.

And here we go again with digs for the sake of digs, with absolutely no purpose but to provoke a reaction!

 

[Brew_DD2]

You’ve just used ‘SNP’ and ‘democracy’ in the same paragraph.

Do enlighten me...

 

[the_quick]

This should bring calls for Priti Patel to resign as the independent inquiry DID found that she broke ministerial code - I highly doubt it will happen.

Sturgeon will go back to preparing to next election, I think she will win big. I would prefer for Scotland not to leave, but if this is a desire of the majority, they should be able to do that - Democracy at work.

 

[MickDundee]

Sturgeon will go back to preparing to next election, I think she will win big. I would prefer for Scotland not to leave, but if this is a desire of the majority, they should be able to do that - Democracy at work.

I think she might get a shock. There are a lot of people who are unsure of the timing of such a big indyref2 push at the tail end of a major pandemic in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit disaster.

I think both politicians and the media underestimate how many of us there are who are left-leaning politically but sceptical/on the fence about independence. I can see yet another SNP minority government and reckon Labour might make a few gains.

 

[GhostShip]

Do enlighten me...

Two referendums in recent years and they have refused to accept the result of either. Doesn’t sound very democratic to me.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Two referendums in recent years and they have refused to accept the result of either. Doesn’t sound very democratic to me.

Strange because as far as I'm aware, Scotland is both in the UK and out of the EU. Accepting a result doesn't mean you can't oppose it. If enough people vote for them on that basis then they have a mandate. Democracy isn't static and based upon a single vote. Certainly no definition I've seen of it anyway. Do you think the ERG would've given up on Brexit if they'd lost in 2016? No, and why should they if it's what they believe in?

Anything else?

 

[Brew_DD2]

I think she might get a shock. There are a lot of people who are unsure of the timing of such a big indyref2 push at the tail end of a major pandemic in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit disaster.

I think both politicians and the media underestimate how many of us there are who are left-leaning politically but sceptical/on the fence about independence. I can see yet another SNP minority government and reckon Labour might make a few gains.

I think Labour have hurt themselves further over this. They may have made gains if Sturgeon had had to resign, but they've been seen siding with the Tories again. They're finished here imo.

I don't think the SNP will gain an outright majority. But then our voting system is designed to avoid majorities anyway.

 

[GhostShip]

Strange because as far as I'm aware, Scotland is both in the UK and out of the EU. Accepting a result doesn't mean you can't oppose it. If enough people vote for them on that basis then they have a mandate. Democracy isn't static and based upon a single vote. Certainly no definition I've seen of it anyway. Do you think the ERG would've given up on Brexit if they'd lost in 2016? No, and why should they if it's what they believe in?

Anything else?

We’ll have to wait and see what happens at the elections. I don’t think Salmond is finished with her yet so that could play a big part, but even though she won a victory today, she is damaged. Celebrating a ‘no evidence’ result when Hamilton’s report was redacted 80 times by the SNP, looks premature. I watched some of the enquiry and I’ve never heard one person say “I can’t remember”, “I don’t recall” or “I can’t be sure” so many times in such a short space of time. In my mind, there’s no doubt she’s a liar, but she is surrounded by her own people (Hamilton being one) who protect her. She looks more like a dictator with each passing day.