BBC News
By Philip Sim
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image captionNicola Sturgeon referred herself for an independent investigation of whether she breached the code in January 2019
Scotland s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing questions after her predecessor Alex Salmond accused her of repeatedly misleading parliament and breaking the ministerial code.
Ms Sturgeon has rejected the accusations, but has referred herself for an independent investigation. What exactly are the claims, who will adjudicate and what could it all mean?
What is this all about?
The row centres on the Scottish government s botched investigation of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond, something which has now been subject to a wide range of inquiries.
SCOTTISH ministers were alarmed at the prospect of their public and private lives being exposed by the advent of Freedom of Information, official records reveal. Scottish Government cabinet papers from 2005, the year FoI began north of the border, show ministers raised multiple “concerns” about the impact on them, their families and their staff. The discussion, led by then First Minister Jack McConnell, took place just days after FoI claimed the first MSP s resignation. Ministers arranged to discuss their fears with officials running the Government’s FoI unit, and demanded to be warned about “particularly difficult requests”. They were also told who was making the requests.
Mr Sheridan, it’s fair to say, followed a very different path. The former MSP went from socialist firebrand to convicted perjurer after suing the News of the World over claims he was an adulterer and swinger. Tabloid allegations also led to the resignation of Tory MSP David Davidson as his party’s health spokesman in 2005. In a decidedly unhealthy move, he was accused of going on a “five-hour binge-drinking bender” before slipping on the cobbles of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and breaking his leg. There were also claims of nights spent with SNP MSP Christine Grahame. Later that year, Labour peer Mike Watson was jailed after drunkenly setting fire to a curtain at The Herald’s Scottish Politician of the Year awards.
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SNPâs Alex Neil named Best Donald Dewar Debater of the Year by The Herald s panel of judges
Alex Neil was judged to be the best debater. WITH the Covid crisis consuming governments and parliaments north and south of the Border, The Herald has put its annual Politician of the Year Awards on hold for 2020. Instead of the traditional close-quarter wrangling over who should be praised for their skills and service in the previous 12 months, the judges wrangled over Zoom about who they felt was the best of the best from the past 21 years of ceremonies. The Donald Dewar Debater of the Year category was particularly tough.