David Davis raises concern over Rule of Law in Scotland

As published in the Times

A former senior Conservative cabinet minister has named Nicola Sturgeon’s ex-chief of staff as the person responsible for leaking a sensitive Scottish government report into sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond.

Sir David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, used parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons to accuse Liz Lloyd of divulging details of the claims against Scotland’s former first minister.

In 2018 the Daily Record revealed an investigation had been started after two female civil servants had complained about Salmond’s conduct.

Davis told the chamber on Thursday: “Other than Mr Salmond, only the Scottish government had that report.

“However, I have personally met with a witness who has made the statement that he was told by the then political editor of the Daily Record that the story was in fact leaked to them by Liz Lloyd.”

Colleagues of Lloyd have said that Davis is not correct and David Clegg, the former political editor of the Daily Record who broke the story, said: “I have never and would never reveal the identity of a confidential source.”

Davis, who is a longstanding friend of Salmond’s, has previously used parliamentary privilege to raise concerns about the processes surrounding the investigation into the former SNP leader.

Earlier this year police investigating the alleged leak of information about the Scottish government’s inquiry into harassment allegations against Salmond announced that no action would be taken.

Salmond was subsequently charged with sexual assault but was cleared at a trial on the day the country went into lockdown in 2020.

On Thursday Davis called for “democratic accountability” as he criticised the Scottish government’s unlawful investigation of sexual harassment allegations made against Salmond.

He said: “Three years ago … I presented to this house the implications of the unlawful Scottish government investigation and contrived criminal charges against Alex Salmond.

“I recommended empowering the Scottish parliament to investigate as a Scottish court found the government acted illegally and engaged in the process tainted by bias against Mr Salmond.

“Regrettably the investigative committee appointed by Holyrood was limited in its powers of investigation, operating without protection of privilege and was thwarted at every turn by the delay, obfuscation and even threats from the Scottish government and institutions of state.

“Three years on, that failure in democratic accountability has not been addressed, the investigatory powers of the Scottish parliament could have been strengthened, decisions whether and who to prosecute could have been made entirely independent of ministers in the Scottish government.

In 2021 Davis accused Liz Lloyd in the Commons of meddling in the investigation into Salmond. Again invoking parliamentary privilege, the veteran Tory made a series of claims about the Salmond affair, saying a whistleblower had passed him information purporting to show “perjury up to criminal conspiracy”.

He read out messages from two civil servants, said to have been sent on February 6, 2018, which suggested Lloyd was “interfering in the complaints process against Alex Salmond”.

The message said “Liz interference v [very] bad”.

In 2018 Salmond took the Scottish government to court, and Lord Pentland ruled that its investigation into him had been unfair and “tainted by apparent bias”.

Salmond, 69, was later charged with multiple counts of sexual assault but was cleared of all of the allegations against him after a High Court trial in March 2020.

The leak in August 2018 played a significant part in bringing the allegations against Salmond to the public’s attention and there followed a number of inquires trying to identify the source.

However, previous investigations by the Scottish government and the information commissioner failed to establish how the Daily Record obtained the details.

Salmond subsequently referred the matter to the police. In March this year, Police Scotland, which investigated the alleged leak of information, said that no action would be taken.

Reacting on social media to the news, Salmond said there was “no doubt a criminal leak took place” and said the question remained about who it was.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also carried out an inquiry into the leak, which said that it had “sympathy with the hypothesis that the leak came from an employee of the Scottish government”.

However, it concluded that there was “insufficient evidence to point to any specific suspect and to allow the investigation to move forward”.