The decision by Scotland’s former first minister to appoint Anwar, 58, to represent her — after Peter Murrell, her estranged husband, admitted embezzling more than £400,000 — has been met with bewilderment and disbelief within the SNP.
https://t.co/AUoYK1G1fr
Allegations of cash for seats coming on top of serious questions for the Crown & the Police make it increasingly likely there will be a Westminster inquiry. Scottish public life will be fixed from above unless the Scottish Government has the guts to set up an independent inquiry.
Having stolen from SNP donors, and it seems the public purse, Peter Murrell is now fleecing the taxpayer for his legal costs.
This absolutely stinks and undermines public confidence in Scotland’s legal aid system.
The idea that someone whose assets include a holiday home should be eligible for legal aid makes an absolute mockery of our justice system.
https://t.co/CGpdgMxWzm
⚠️Numbered accounts
⚠️No independent scrutiny
⚠️Questions redirected to Murrell
⚠️Blind deference from those meant to provide oversight
The SNP wasn't the victim of one man's actions.
It was the victim of a culture that treated accountability as the enemy.
The SNP isn’t merely capable of lying to the public — it has made deception a political strategy.
Alex Massie is right.
The Murrell scandal exposed a culture of secrecy and cover-up, yet John Swinney still refuses to acknowledge the scale of the wrongdoing.
Worse, SNP ministers too often resort to outright deception in the face of overwhelming evidence. That speaks volumes.
For too long, the SNP’s instinct has been denial, deflection and concealment rather than honesty and accountability. That is why public trust has been so badly damaged.
Read Alex Massie’s column in The Sunday Times below ⬇️
The embezzlement of £400K of SNP funds is the biggest political and financial scandal in the history of devolution — and it goes far beyond the crimes of Peter Murrell. There is a growing list of figures from whom those who blew the whistle want to hear.
This is what @JohnSwinney said to me & Dean Lockhart in 2022 when we went to Seville for the Europa League final. I’m sure as a man of integrity he’s not a shameless hypocrite so there is a credible explanation for this latest development?