A piece published online by the Telegraph a few hours ago:
Key witnesses in the Alex Salmond scandal corroborated his version of events and provided damning evidence she repeatedly misled Parliament
Nicola Sturgeon is facing calls to resign after two witnesses in the Alex Salmond scandal corroborated his version of key events and provided damning evidence she repeatedly misled parliament.
In a potentially devastating development for the First Minister, ahead of her appearance before a Holyrood inquiry on Wednesday morning, a pair of former special advisers contradicted her claims about two meetings in 2018.
Ms Sturgeon has told parliament she only found out about the allegations when Mr Salmond visited her home on April 2, 2018 and but she refused to intervene.
Last week she denied during First Minister’s Questions the identity of one of the women was shared with Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond’s chief of staff, “to the best of my knowledge”.
But Duncan Hamilton, a former SNP MP and junior counsel, said the name of a complainant was given to Mr Aberdein by a senior official shortly after Mr Salmond was informed of the government’s investigation into sexual misconduct claims on March 7, 2018.
In a letter to the inquiry, he said “fact that the government official had shared that information with Mr Aberdein was reported to me, and to Kevin Pringle, on a conference call.”
He was present at the meeting between Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon at her home on April 2 and confirmed she “did offer to assist” him with her government’s investigation only to change her mind.
Ms Sturgeon has told parliament she refused to get involved but Mr Hamilton, said: “We discussed mediation. My clear recollection is that her words were ‘If it comes to it, I will intervene’.”
He contradicted Ms Sturgeon’s claim about when she found out about the allegations, stating that when Mr Salmond and his team arrived at her home, “everyone in the room knew exactly why we were there.”
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