The End of Peter Murrell; SNP hires top law firm, Shepherd & Wedderburn as the pressure ramps up on SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP CEO husband Peter Murrell, lawyers aren’t going to help him survive, too many enemies outside and within the party exist, the fact Nicola Sturgeon wouldn’t confirm whether her husband sent whatsapp messages urging Police Scotland to be pressurised in the Salmond case is very telling, Peter Murrell like Margaret Ferrier is now too toxic to remain in the SNP

Dear All 

In space of 24 hours, we have learned that an SNP MP Margaret Ferrier has travelled to and from London after being positive for coronavirus. So far, we don’t know the exact number of people that she infected, but what we do know is that she has been suspended by the SNP. In times when the stench of the SNP boils out into the open, the SNP cuts people off from the party, unless of course the stench surrounds the husband of Nicola Sturgeon. 

Ferrier is now listed as an independent on the Commons, the SNP mob have turned on her, and Nicola Sturgeon has called on her to resign as an MP. What Ferrier did was incredibly stupid, more so when you factor in when she got a positive result, she still decided to travel back to Scotland. I could write more about, how it appears one person she had contact with is now infected but it would take away from the real story of today. The developments in the Alex Salmond affair which has seen the SNP hire one of the top law firms Shepherd & Wedderburn. 

SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon and husband Peter Murrell are under pressure, evidence has been withheld from the Holyrood investigation. So, what role could Shepherd & Wedderburn be asked and hire to play in this scandal? Well MSPs demanded more evidence from Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, party chief executive Peter Murrell. Clearly they aren’t engaged to assist the MSPs in their search for the truth, they wouldn’t need to be hired for that, and if they aren’t hired to assist the Holyrood inquiry, their only function is to find a way to block evidence. 

Already, we've seen the disquiet against Nicola Sturgeon’s husband grow, in this case, pro UK and harden Nationalists by a quirk of fate seem to be bedfellows. If you check out pro Indy websites like Wings over Scotland, the anger towards Sturgeon and her husband is at boiling point, this isn’t a few disgruntled people, this is a sizeable and growing band of people. They want both Nicola Sturgeon and her husband out of the leadership of the SNP and they want it now. One of the disquieted even writes blog posts on Wings, SNP MP Kenny MacAskill, his tact is perfect, he wants to follow the money trail of how much Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell is paid, and how and by whom was his salary set. In cases were people fall from high, usually the financial element takes them down. Like in the Salmond case, SNP members aren’t allowed the full truth as Sturgeon and Murrell attempt to drip feed and control the media agenda. 

I used to occasionally drop by Wings over Scotland to read the madness of the comments section, but this time, the madness has a narrow beam lazer quality to it. 

The SNP don’t want the truth of what happened in the various attempts to discredit Alex Salmond getting out, which is party has engaged Shepherd & Wedderburn, the law firm has wrote to the inquiry this week on behalf of the SNP raising objections to some of its requests to Mr Murrell. The inquiry has one remit seek the truth, so far this week, in relation to the ‘cover up’; serving MSPs have called Nicola Sturgeon a liar. Oliver Mundell, not noted for outrageous behaviour, more a considered and thoughtful man, did so in the Chamber of Holyrood. Professor Adam Tomkins, also an MSP took to twitter to back his colleague, and also called Sturgeon a liar. What surprised me is the length of time that it has taken for people to make the extraordinary step to get this on the public record. 

No one seriously believes Nicola Sturgeon’s attempt to reassure Holyrood on Thursday that her party would “put forward answers” to the inquiry’s questions and “continue to cooperate fully”. The engagement of Shepherd & Wedderburn shows what is said by Sturgeon in the Chamber is for media manipulation of the public. If you caught the highlights of the usually dull FMQs, you will have seen embittered Nicola Sturgeon being grilled about her government’s cooperation with the inquiry and her husband’s role. Holyrood Tory leader Ruth Davidson accused the First Minister of a “shabby abuse of power” by needlessly withholding evidence. What is being done is high-level “obstruction”. In a brutal exchange between Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson, she refused to answer questions from the Conservative Holyrood leader about whether her husband had urged police and prosecution action against Mr Salmond. 

The questioning relates to the infamous and leaked WhatsApp messages sent to the inquiry which allegedly purport to come from her husband, the SNP Chief Executive. Allegedly Murrell told SNP colleagues it was a “good time to be pressurising” police and “the more fronts he [Mr Salmond] is having to firefight on the better for all complainers”. Sturgeon has refused to confirm the messages were sent by her husband, clearly one thing has emerged without doubt, certain people didn’t want Alex Salmond, the former first minister making a political comeback. Nicola Sturgeon didn’t emerge from the shadow of Alex Salmond by her own merits; Salmond had to leave before she became leader and FM. Salmond back in power as an elected politician regardless of position would be seen as a threat to Sturgeon’s authority. 

Already the claims that the SNP are trying to create a situation which by denying evidence, the entire inquiry is tainted and ultimately will become a ‘whitewash’ is out there. On 17 January 2019, Sturgeon gave an undertaking to parliament to “provide whatever material” the inquiry requested, adding: 

“My commitment is that the Government and I will cooperate fully with it.” 

No one with any commonsense would believe that after what is going on behind closed doors. Sturgeon’s officials and ministers have since tried to block witnesses and withheld swathes of evidence, citing “legal privilege” despite waiving it for three judge-led inquiries. In any good cover up, the people doing keep repeating a simple message, they are following the rules, and to add theatre for those who disbelieve the SNP have cited, 1,000 pages of material and 10 hours of meaningless oral evidence, they are even prepared top go to court to initiate legal proceedings to potentially make more material available, presumably knowing this material will not be allowed to be made public. 

The SNP has form using the line, ‘they know nothing’; this is the staple of every scandal which Nicola Sturgeon has been questioned on in and out of Holyrood. Like his wife, Murrell when questioned by the inquiry is using the tact; he was “unaware” of ministers using SNP communications for official business, despite widespread publicity about it taking place. Strange when you consider that the SNP monitors the press and certain individuals it deems as a threats very closely. During last year’s SNP conference it emerged that Government officials were told in 2015 that the First Minister would only use her personal SNP account, not her Government one. It also emerged that other SNP cabinet secretaries and one minister were also confirmed to have sent material to the government from their personal accounts. How can stories which make the national press and are widely known escape his attention, especially when his party monitors the media so closely? 

When the Holyrood committee were unsatisfied with Murrell’s response, they wrote back; asking him to check again if the SNP held communications related to the misconduct complaints against Mr Salmond. This included “emails, minutes, notes, texts, papers and WhatsApp messages from all levels of the SNP.” 

The SNP said last night: 

“Mr Murrell has been asked to submit further evidence by [Friday] and he will do so.” 

This raises questions; 

What is this new evidence? 

Why this evidence was not presented the first time round? 

Who was tasked with collecting the information first time round? 

If the information was vetted, who did this? 

Did anyone external to the SNP see the evidence before it was passed to the committee? 

When did Murrell find out about the existence of new evidence? 

Who found this new evidence? 

If anyone was named in the new evidence have they been contacted prior to or since it was in the process of going to the committee? 

Are any of the ‘alphabet women’ clients of Shepherd & Wedderburn? 

Finally, Margaret Ferrier was sacrificed pretty quickly, yes, she was stupid, yes, she broke quarantine regulations, yes, she endanger people, she done all that, but don’t get caught up in her drama, it is meaningless. The SNP will stoke the fires on demands she resign. They think they can take the spotlight of Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, by giving the press condemnation stories to print. Don’t get distracted, keep the focus on Peter Murrell, already Kenny MacAskill is asking questions about the money trail from the SNP to Peter Murrell. Who was involved in setting his salary, and why it is kept secret from not just ordinary members but from those who hold elected positions in the party. Ruth Davidson hit a nerve at FMQs, Sturgeon’s bravado couldn’t hide how deeply uncomfortable things are going to get, Peter Murrell doesn’t have a long term future in the SNP, the question is who is going to take him down?

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University