These Islands

These Islands is a forum for debate standing unabashedly for the view that more unites the people of the United Kingdom than divides them.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

Awkward. Speaking in parliament in 2022, John Swinney railed against the economic illiteracy of people suggesting he had the right to spend ringfenced money on other things.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

Ideally, the new Cabinet Secretary for Finance would at least have heard of the Scottish Government’s Tax Advisory Group. Alas…

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

John Swinney loses his cool (twice) at FMQs when his personal integrity is quite legitimately questioned.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

Questioned by Anas Sarwar on whether the SNP made fraudulent VAT refund claims when Murrell was in charge, John Swinney acknowledges that this may have happened. Which makes his continued resistance to a proper inquiry even harder to justify.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

🚨1/ We already have loads of photos of Sturgeon with Murrell swag, but I’ve found a new kind of gaiety: tweets in which Sturgeon photographs and delights in expensive new household purchases, paid for with SNP money.🧵

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

Less a car crash, more a painfully slow drowning. You have to listen to the full 7 minutes to really appreciate Angela Constance’s discomfort in trying (but failing) to answer questions on the missing £600k.

[Times Politics @timespolitics]

Prosecutors agreed to drop a series of allegations against Peter Murrell that would have heaped further embarrassment on Nicola Sturgeon in exchange for the former SNP chief executive’s guilty plea, it has emerged https://t.co/hqZBHAC97d

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

2/ Now… those highball glasses were not in the amended indictment to which Murrell pled guilty. But they *were* in the original indictment, which listed the purchase of “2 x Harris Highball Serve Gift” for £145, from Isle of Harris Distillers Ltd, on 28th October 2019.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

4/ It looks as though Murrell’s lawyers argued that he couldn’t be guilty of embezzling his own money, and so deleted ~£60k worth of items from the original indictment. And the deletions include lots of women’s items and items of particular interest or connection to Sturgeon.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

5/ Murrell appears to have done everything he could to protect Sturgeon. @DSanderson_85 has the full story here: https://t.co/L3tHXorTiP

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

3/ It’s surely no coincidence that the difference between the total alleged embezzlement in the original indictment (£459k) and the total to which Murrell pled guilty (£400k) is very close to £60k - the amount of his outstanding loan to the SNP.

[The Times and Sunday Times @thetimes]

Prosecutors agreed to drop a series of allegations against Peter Murrell that would have heaped further embarrassment on Nicola Sturgeon in exchange for the former SNP chief executive’s guilty plea, it has emerged https://t.co/zHHmlx81vr

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

In a predictable turn of events, the vast majority of @ScotNational readers are absolutely fine with being defrauded by the SNP.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

The converse, of course, also holds. If the SNP says something is utter nonsense, it’s likely to be true. And if the SNP says something is true, it’s likely to be utter nonsense.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

John Swinney’s confession today is hugely significant, not least because it confirms that Sturgeon lied to Laura Kuenssberg at the weekend. And if Sturgeon lied about this, what else did she lie about?

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

John Swinney did not discover the truth today - he was plainly aware the ringfenced £600k had been spent when he gave this interview in 2021. He knew exactly why Douglas Chapman had resigned. If he had any integrity, he too would resign today. But he doesn’t, so he won’t.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

“Murrell spent £3,500 on a wine coaster and even this was a better use of money than spending it on promoting Scottish independence.”

@Dannythefink in today’s Times.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

Well… there you go. Swinney finally admits that the ringfence meant nothing, and the money the SNP pledged to spend only on a future referendum campaign was frittered away on other things.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

Very important wider point here: scrutiny & questioning are demonised wherever the SNP has influence. Anyone involved with Scottish politics will recognise the truth of this. But few inside the SNP will admit it publicly. Thereby proving the point.

[Sam Taylor @staylorish]

1/ John Swinney lost his rag twice today with journalists who accurately described his position. Here, Swinney is irate with @DMScotPol for saying that it sounds like he accepts public money could “conceivably” have been part of the general pool of money from which Murrell stole.