I suppose yesterday was a shock to many of us, the Craig Murray submission in his court case really blew open the can of worms although you would never have known from the zero press coverage of this very very important case, but the dam has well and truly burst wide open. Liz Lloyd, Chief of Staff to Nicola Sturgeon, accused of leaking the Alex Salmond story to the Daily Record, Peter Murrell and the text messages, 32. This material included the message from Peter Murrell, Chief Executive Officer of the SNP, to Sue Ruddick, Chief Operating Officer, to the effect that it was now the right time to put pressure on Police Scotland to move forward against Alex Salmond. It included the message from Ms Ruddick (I do not recall the recipient) to the effect that the problem was with Police Scotland refusing to detail precisely what evidence they required. If they would specify, then she could get that evidence for them. It included the message from Leslie Evans, Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government, after the Scottish Government had abandoned its judicial review case, to the effect that they had lost a battle but won the war.
If I had any doubt that this goes to the very top of the SNP, and that both the Murrells are heavily involved, that doubt is now well and truly gone from the evidence that Craig Murray has submitted and we have no reason not to believe him. This was a planned and orchestrated attack on Alex Salmond according to the evidence submitted by Craig 33. It included the message from redacted to another complainer to the effect that she had a plan that would enable them to have a strongly detrimental effect on Alex Salmond but have anonymity. It included the message from redacted to the effect that she did not want to attend any further meetings regarding a possible complaint if redacted were going to be present as redacted made her feel pressured rather than supported. It included the message from Ian McCann to the effect that he would sit on redacted’s complaint until it became necessary to deploy it. It included a number of messages from redacted which gave the impression she was playing a central role in orchestrating and organising complainers, but I do not recall any specific details of those particular individual messages.
How can any fair and honest person not be disgusted by this. I made a couple of comments on social media yesterday and was immediately struck by the Sturgeon loyalists who piled in or those who feel that we should accept any behaviour until we get independence, nope I do not go with that view at all. We will not get independence if we are led by a group of people who would do the things that Craig has accused them of, independence cannot, and should not, be built on that. I admit I have never been a fan of Nicola Sturgeon, have said it since she took over in 2014, but this information coming out yesterday and her twitter video in support of her horrible youth wing of trans lobbyist’s who have left the party yesterday was just bizarre. I suspect we are seeing the end game now in so many ways and Nicola Sturgeon may not last much longer as First Minister, the view that there has been a cover up is hard to ignore but once you go down that road and don’t do it well enough the dam bursts and it’s over. I don’t go with the Nicola Sturgeon is a British plant nonsense but I also cannot get my head around why she would turn on Alex Salmond as she has and even Alex Salmond has no idea according to Craig Murray.
This whole sorry affair will come to an end, I don’t expect anything from the Harassment Enquiry, it has been a shambles from start to finish as anyone who has followed it has seen. From the shocking chairmanship of Linda Fabiani to the constant recalls and memory lapses of all of the senior players to the Lord Advocate who won’t answer a question and let’s be honest, if you needed a lawyer would you go with him, I wouldn’t. A lot of these people will no doubt be allowed to retire with a lovely pension at our expense at some point where if I had the power I know what I think should be happening to them that is for sure. Whatever happens and comes out in the next few weeks there is now no doubt in my mind that there was a planned effort to damage Alex Salmond and that senior Civil Servants, the Murrells, and many in at the top of the SNP are involved based on the articles from Craig Murray and Wings Over Scotland. I don’t think that the independence cause has been damaged but if I was a member of the SNP I would be wanting the Murrells gone and gone now or I would be leaving the party as sometimes you just cannot be associated with something that stinks so badly.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
The big question of course is… why? The guy himself said he was done with politics. I might need to have another read through the whole transcript on CM’s site to see if there are any clues.
Hope you folks are feeling a lot better. If you’re from the Arab side of the divide, last night’s result might’ve finished you off!
David
Feeling a bit better thank you, not great but feel like I am seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Last nights pumping of Dundee Utd, being a Dundee FC fan, was the equivalent of at least 6 paracetamol and a funny movie for sure. The why is what I have been thinking about a lot. We now know that Alex Salmond had no time for the people that Nicola Sturgeon surrounded herself with, we know that he thought the lack of movement towards independence was not good, and my only guess is that they feared a come back from Alex Salmond and given how popular he is they may have thought if he comes back we are all finished. The fact that they thought they were smart and could bring him down while making an absolute mess of it tells you all you need to know. It is clear now that the enquiry is a sham and has been designed to not get the truth, the Minsterial code investigation is designed to not get the truth, they have dug a hole so deep that they can’t get out of it anymore. They never took into account that many yes supporters and prominent journalist like Stuart Campbell and Craig Murray would not this lay, they never thought that the public were a lot smarter than they gave them credit for and they thought that Nicola Sturgeon is untouchable. It is over for Nicola Sturgeon now, it is just a matter of time, I thought her trans rant yesterday showed that it’s over for her now. She has to go for all of our sakes and if she doesn’t and somehow manages to cling on then the SNP I suspect will lose a lot of members to the ISP and that many of us will just start over. I have said I will vote SNP on the constituency vote in May but I am going to have to seriously think about it now as this whole thing makes me sick and the idea of giving my vote to a party that allows the Murrells to continue in their roles is a difficult one to stomach to be honest. What a mess but I have no doubt after reading what Craig said to the court that they all have to go and go now.
Thanks for commenting and please stay safe. Bruce
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The key point seems to be his being critical of her failure to bring forward a referendum after the disgrace of us being dragged out the EU against our will.
Still, it’s a hell of a jump from there to wanting the guy locked up for the rest of his life!
There’s no way I’ll be voting to keep her and her hubby at the trough although it’s a good thing that these biology deniers are stomping off in a huff. Spoiled 1st vote and ISP 2nd I think.
David
I guess we will never know the whole truth as far as motivation is concerned but as Wings has written today I think the writing is on the wall now and she knows it. Wings has put out there the whole trans video is about setting the stage for the leadership to take on Joanna Cherry to stop her from gaining more support and maybe even becoming leader at some point, nothing would surprise me any more, the current top of the SNP are just as bad as Labour and the Tories and the damage this does to politics is sad because we need people to engage in the debate not have nothing to do with it and the Murells et all have done some serious damage to our politics that is for sure. The wee trans infants leaving the scene is a good thing, hipefully they will go and join the Tories and I will hope the ISP are on their guard against these vile wee creatures.
Thanks for commenting and please stay safe. Bruce
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The wording of those paragraphs are very careful and very clever legally-wise. Murray is literally saying “Salmond told me…”, “Salmond said…” That is hearsay – unless Salmond repeats those claims on the stand.
The number of hardcore unionists lining up on “Salmond’s side” is terrifying me. Andrew Neil, Effie Deans, George Galloway. It’s plain they’re not doing it out of any sense of justice for Alex, they’re only doing it to harm the SNP, hoping to bring Sturgeon down. Well, if we’re not careful, John Swinney will be leading the SNP into the election.
I still think Salmond & Sturgeon had actually planned this from the start, cooked up during one of those misplaced meetings. The initial complaint couldn’t be ignored, so they turned it into an extreme wringer which would exonerate Salmond. Once that was done, it became a matter of putting on enough of a show to persuade everyone that they had fallen out with each other.
Both of them are serious strategists. They don’t think about politics in terms of the next six weeks or months; they think years ahead. IF Alex does join a list party in the next few months, that would tie everything up more or less neatly. The public rift is a necessity, because otherwise nobody would believe they weren’t trying to game the AMS.
Having both of them back for IndyRef2 is still the dream scenario. Just imagine how the hardcore unionists would take that!
Alan
That is interesting, I had not heard that idea before and just hope that whatever happens we get the truth but I still can’t get away from the fact that something is very broken in the SNP and the Scottish Government and you have to ask why, if they were both involved, take the risk of losing a huge chunk of votes and members of the party, and possibly end up in jail for a conspiracy, I don’t know. I know a couple of people who have left the party as a result of this now and are more inclined to not vote than vote for someone else. It is a mess but Craig Murray’s evidence is an eye opener as we just haven’t heard any of the evidence or comments from Alex Salmond really before now and it is interesting that the so called crown have not complained about a single thing that Craig Murray said, so there has to be truth in it or they would be challenging it in court.
Thanks for commenting and please stay safe. Bruce
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I find it interesting that approx. 40k members left the SNP and none of them warranted a video. I’ve not watched it, reading others’ comments was enough. I don’t know what is going to happen next but I’d prefer it to happen soon. Lance that boil!
Glad you are feeling better and hope Mrs Grumpy is improving too.
Panda
I saw the twitter thing last night and just thought what is she doing, has she lost her mind, those young people were a disgrace to the SNP with some of the things they have posted on social media and it is hard not to think it is about Joanna Cherry as Wings Over Scotland suggests. I think it is over for Nicola Sturgeon now I really do, it might drag on for a few more months but I think it is over, you can see on social media those that were NS die hards are getting very quiet as this goes on and more comes out. I have heard members of the party talking about Peter Murrell and his position and have had their eyes opened to the fact non one knows who appointed him, his contract, his salary etc and many are asking questions. I think it is all starting to crumble now little by little and it is just a matter of time. If they survive this then Scottish Politics is just corrupt and many of us might reconsider our involvement in it because I find it all disgusting to be honest. Starting to feel a little better, not great but certainly better than last weekend that is for sure and even better than the last couple of days.
Thanks for commenting and please stay safe. Bruce
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I am now seriously despairing, I can no longer believe or support the people in charge of the SNP and at the head of the Scottish Government. I’ve been following the whole Salmond affair and it stinks of corruption and self preservation. With great reservation as an SNP member (to be considered) I will still have to vote SNP at the May elections, but I will be campaigning for the current ruling clique to be removed asap
Kian
I am not a member and haven’t been for 4 years now but the signs were there with the current leadership. I think most will stick with the party for May but I think it could be the last time for many but I reluctantly have to agree with many now that NS should go for the greater good fo the movement plus I’m not convinced they want independence right now, I think they are afraid of it.
Thanks for commenting and please stay safe.
Bruce
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