LONDON – Accused of lying, violating official rules and conspiracy of her predecessor, Alex Salmond, the Prime Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, fought hard on Wednesday over allegations overshadowing her future and the prospects for Scottish independence set.
In almost eight tense hours of testimony before the Scottish Parliament, Mrs Sturgeon denies plotting against Mr. Salmond or violated the ministerial rules, during an internal investigation into allegations against him about sexual harassment.
Opponents have demanded the resignation of Ms. Sturgeon to do so even before she spoke, but on Wednesday she called on lawmakers to trust her report of a confusing series of events. And she rejected the ‘absurd suggestion that someone act maliciously or as part of a conspiracy against Alex Salmond’. ‘
Mrs. Sturgeon also attacked and criticized her predecessor’s failure to admit in his testimony to the same committee last week that he had behaved inappropriately towards women.
“I know from what he told me that his behavior was not always appropriate, and yet, during six hours of testimony, there was not a single regret of regret, reflection or even a simple acknowledgment of it,” she said. .
Wednesday’s sitting was the culmination of an extraordinary dispute between me. Sturgeon and Mr. Salmond, her mentor and direct predecessor as Prime Minister of Scotland – a dispute that was so bitter that it affected the career of Ms. Sturgeon could destroy and the cause of Scottish independence, to which both politicians dedicated their lives.
Mr. Salmond spotted the talent of student Sturgeon as a student politician and made her his deputy in 2004, a position in which she served for a decade before accepting the top job when her boss resigned after the Scots in a 2014 referendum against voted for independence.
But the rift between the two biggest figures in Scottish politics, with its almost Shakespeare claims of conspiracy and betrayal, comes just as the prospects for Scottish independence have begun to shine brightly again due to Brexit, which is very unpopular in Scotland.
The dispute concerns an internal investigation in 2018 of two charges against Salmond dating back to 2013. Salmond argued that the investigation process was flawed, took the Scottish government to court and won, with Scottish taxpayers claiming his legal costs of more than £ 500,000. When the police later filed a criminal case against him, Mr. Salmond acquitted of 13 charges, including one of attempted rape.
He is determined to salvage his reputation and claims that those next to Mrs. Sturgeon conspired against him to prevent him from returning to politics after losing his seat in the British Parliament in 2017 – and was even prepared to jail him. Last week, he also said that Scotland’s political leadership and institutions had failed under his successor, a claim that apparently undermined the cause for independence.
But more dangerous for me. Sturgeon is allegations that she misled the Scottish Parliament about what she knew and when, and about how she handled the allegations of sexual harassment.
Ms Sturgeon is facing two inquiries, and if, according to her, there is apparently lying, she will be expected to stop under the strict ministerial rules of the country. Even if she survives, the timing is terrible, as most believe she will do, ahead of the May election in the Scottish Parliament.
In the mood, Ms. Sturgeon on profits for her party that she could use to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence.
But instead of a campaign, Ms. Sturgeon on Wednesday struggled to salvage her work with a fluent performance, albeit without satisfying her critics.
In occasional poignant conversations, Ms. Sturgeon presented her actions as those of a politician torn between personal loyalty to her mentor and a stronger determination not to tolerate sexual harassment.
“As prime minister, I have refused to follow the age-old pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and his commitments to get what he wants,” she said.
As for the allegations against her, Ms. Sturgeon said she ‘has searched my soul many, many times’, but added that’ in one of the most insignificant personal and political situations I have ever encountered, I believe I acted properly and appropriately and that I generally delivered the best judgments I could do. ”
Me. Sturgeon admitted errors in the 2018 investigation and apologized to the two complainants.
But she has since made her own mistakes. Mrs. Sturgeon initially said she was the first of the allegations against Mr. Salmond was heard during a meeting with him at her home on April 2, 2018, but later admitted that his former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, had been warned earlier. , on March 29th.
Me. Sturgeon said on Wednesday that she had only a vague understanding of what was at stake during the March 29 meeting, and that the information about the allegations on April 2 in detail was “a moment in my life that I will never forget. ‘
She also denies allegations that she offered to mediate between her predecessor – a man she said had revered her since the age of 20 – and the women who had complained against him.
And Mrs. Sturgeon has alleged that the names of the accused to Mr. Salmond gave, rejected by government officials – something that would be a serious violation of the rules.
Instead, she argued that Mr. Salmond knew the identity of one of the women because he apologized to her and worked out the other from his own research.
She also rejected a claim that Salmond, then Mr. Salmond turned the government in court, continued to fight a lost case against the advice of lawyers. Me. Sturgeon argued that the legal advice was ambivalent enough to justify her decision to fight Mr Salmond in court for a few weeks before the Scottish Government conceded.
After all was said, there was nothing that Mrs. Sturgeon could do or say nothing but wait for the verdict of the two queries that would likely determine her fate.