David Davis accuses Nicola Sturgeon of covering up SNP embezzlement scandal
Nicola Sturgeon tried to destroy Alex Salmond to stop him uncovering her husband’s embezzlement of SNP funds, MPs have been told.
As reported by The Telegraph, speaking in the House of Commons, Sir David Davis said that Ms Sturgeon “knew full well” that Peter Murrell was stealing money from the party and using it to fund “luxury purchases”.
But the senior Tory MP said that “her most evil act was stitching up Alex Salmond to hide the truth” about Murrell’s crimes.
Last month, Murrell was sentenced to five years in prison after he admitted embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022. This included £124,550 for a motorhome, and spending on a wide range of goods.
Sir David said that Ms Sturgeon and her fellow “conspirators” moved against Salmond when he considered joining the SNP’s ruling national executive committee (NEC), fearing he would reveal Murrell’s crimes.
He said that Salmond was a “numerate man who could not be silenced” and the risk he posed to them by uncovering the embezzlement was “clear”.
“There was a malicious and concerted attempt to remove him from public life with sexual misconduct allegations,” Sir David said.
Salmond faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct in 2018 but was acquitted of all charges in 2020.
Sir David alleged: “It now appears clear that these actions to destroy a man’s reputation and life were motivated by a desire to hide their own crimes.”
He claimed the alleged cover-up had “cost Alex Salmond his life”. Salmond died after a heart attack in 2024.
But Ms Sturgeon hit back, accusing Sir David of being part of an “Old Boys Club” that was “telling more lies about me” and of hiding “like a coward behind the legal privilege of Westminster”.
Sir David also alleged that Murrell had insisted that some items he purchased be removed from the charge sheet, including female underwear, as they “incriminated” Ms Sturgeon.
He said the decision by Scotland’s Crown Office prosecution service to agree to this as part of a deal for him to plead guilty was a “clear conflict of interest”.
The Lord Advocate, Scotland’s chief prosecutor, is also the Scottish Government’s most senior legal advisor. However, Ruth Charteris KC, who was recently appointed to the role, and her predecessor Dorothy Bain KC have said they recused themselves from all decisions about the case.
Sir David used parliamentary privilege to make the incendiary allegations. He was a close friend of Salmond, and had vowed to uncover the alleged conspiracy against him.
Ms Sturgeon has previously vehemently denied that there was any such plot to discredit and imprison her predecessor as SNP leader and Scottish first minister.
‘She is lying’
But Sir David said that Murrell’s sentencing had “exposed the real reasons behind the Scottish Government’s persecution of Alex Salmond”.
Murrell was the SNP’s chief executive for more than two decades, spanning Ms Sturgeon’s time as both deputy party leader and leader and first minister. They were married in 2010 and shared a home in Uddingston, near Glasgow.
Ms Sturgeon has vehemently denied that she knew her husband, from whom she has since separated, was using SNP funds for expensive purchases.
But Sir David told the Commons: “Did Sturgeon not wonder where he got the money for all those vehicles – the kitchenware, the handbags, the pens, the pendants she loved? After all, who used the Dyson hairdryers in that household?
“My view on her denials is clear: she is lying. She knew full well what her husband was doing and how those luxury purchases were funded.”
He referred to reports that Murrell was accused of stealing around £500 in the late 1980s while working as a staff member for Salmond.
Sir David also noted that Salmond had warned Ms Sturgeon it would be “deeply unwise” to keep Murrell as party chief executive when she became leader in November 2014.
A video showed her telling a March 2021 meeting of the NEC that the party’s finances had never been stronger.
Three senior officials had just said they intended to resign from the party’s finance and audit committee after being denied sight of the accounts.
But the recording, which was leaked two years later, showed Ms Sturgeon warning of the effect on future donations to the SNP if anyone went public with their concerns.
Sturgeon ‘was part of cover-up’
Sir David said the three members had quit “blaming chaotic and incompetent financial management” and they had claimed to be “on the receiving end of a hostile backlash driven by Sturgeon’s toxic culture”.
He also said she had ignored the resignation of Douglas Chapman, the former MP, as party treasurer. He stepped down after complaining he had not been given enough information about SNP finances to do the job.
“Sturgeon was part of the cover-up, using her position to suppress justice. She behaved dishonourably and dishonestly,” Sir David told the Commons.
“But her most evil act was stitching up Alex Salmond to hide the truth. When he was considering going on the [SNP’s ruling] national executive himself, the risk to the conspirators was clear.
“He is a numerate man who could not be silenced. So, what did they do?”
Sir David alleged that the Scottish Government had “created a procedure for dealing with sexual harassment allegations that deliberately targeted Salmond”.
Salmond won a judicial review in 2019 after a court found that the Scottish Government investigation was handled unlawfully and “tainted with apparent bias”.
He was cleared of 14 sexual assault charges in a separate criminal trial in 2020. He alleged at the time that there was a conspiracy among senior SNP figures around Ms Sturgeon to imprison him.
After alleging that Salmond had been targeted to cover up Murrell’s crimes, Sir David highlighted around £60,000-worth of items that were removed from the indictment as part of the plea deal.
He said these included “the hairstylers, the lingerie, the books by Sturgeon’s favourite authors”, adding: “Murrell was clearly protecting Sturgeon by removing items that incriminated her.
“In the investigation, the police had further questions to Sturgeon, but prosecutors stopped them from putting them.
“And those prosecutors worked for the Lord Advocate, the principal legal advisor to the Scottish Government, a clear conflict of interest.”
It has emerged that Ms Sturgeon gave no comment to detectives’ questions during a seven-hour interview that followed her arrest in June 2023.
She later provided police with a written statement, but it is understood that it did not answer all of the questions they wanted to pose.
The police investigation into Ms Sturgeon was dropped, and she defended giving no comment, saying this was the advice of her lawyer.
But Sir David concluded: “There’s a clear pattern of secrecy, obstruction, and power used to protect power – a pattern started by Sturgeon.
“Scotland needs a fresh start. That starts with a judicial inquiry into this entire sordid scandal, because it’s a scandal that cost Alex Salmond his life.”
Davis ‘spreading conspiracy theories’
In a statement issued by her lawyer, Aamer Anwar, Ms Sturgeon said: “This member of the ‘Old Boys Club’ has been spreading conspiracy theories on behalf of the late Alex Salmond since 2021 – and now he is telling more lies about me.
“The fact that he hides like a coward behind the legal privilege of Westminster says everything we need to know about him.”
An SNP spokesman said: “The criminal actions of Peter Murrell was uncovered by a complex and extensive police investigation which found the SNP was the victim of embezzlement.”
The Crown Office was approached for comment. It has previously been said that it decided to accept Murrell’s guilty plea offer as the £58,735 reduction in items on the indictment would make no difference to the prison sentence that he would serve.
John Logue, the Crown Office’s chief executive, previously said: “Decisions about the case were taken independently by prosecutors and Crown Counsel, applying the law to the evidence, and not by reference to political interests.”
However, rejecting Murrell’s offer would have cost a large amount of public money, used to pay for a six-week trial, with the outcome delayed by up to a year.
Police Scotland declined to comment.
Head of Investigations
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