The legal advice the Scottish Government concealed from Parliament until after Sturgeon's testi
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A full reading of the legal advice provided to the Scottish Government during late 2018 as former First Minister Alex Salmond was suing them in a civil procedure (Judicial Review) for having proclaimed him a sexual harasser in an internal stitch-up procedure. The first half-hour is a slow build-up before the main revelations. This legal advice was (thanks to decisions by Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy, John Swinney) mostly not disclosed until after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's appearance last Wednesday before the Scottish Parliament committee investigating the matter.
Read here in chronological order, the material chronicles the Scottish Government's lawyers' mounting indignation at having been strung along by how much the Scottish Government knew had been wrong about the procedure by which Salmond was "got", and documents Permanent Secretary (chief civil servant) Leslie Evans' persistent attitude that legal advice should tell her what she wanted to hear and should not bother her about her forthcoming sworn testimony.
The disclosures read here are hosted at https://www.gov.scot/publicati....ons/legal-advice-rel and are not complete; see https://www.standard.co.uk/new....s/uk/scottish-govern
See also: https://news.sky.com/story/sco....tlands-chief-law-off and https://www.scotsman.com/news/....politics/records-of- and https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/....news/politics/record
Mentions of “the first respondent” and “the second respondent” at around the first half-hour mark and around the 54-minute mark in these readings refer to Leslie Evans, Permanent Secretary (the Scottish Government's chief civil servant), and to the Scottish Ministers.
A chronology is at https://www.parliament.scot/Ha....rassmentComplaintsCo
Please note that, owing to a coincidence of dates, 2 and 13 November 2017 (dates on which the Scottish Government sent out messages to all its staff which Alex Salmond argues pre-cooked the procedure against him) should not be confused with 2 and 13 November 2018 (dates on which the Scottish Government consulted its legal counsel in a panic about the forthcoming Judicial Review but “took no notes”). It seems even Roddy Dunlop QC made a typo in that regard; “2 November 2018”, as read out at 54:46, seems to have been an error for ”2 November 2017”.
0:00 Introduction to the readings
3:30 4 Sept 2018 — Counsel to ScotGov, general advice
13:11 17 Sept (a) — Lord Advocate to Sturgeon/Evans, case strategy
17:20 17 Sept (b) — Counsel to ScotGov on reporting restrictions
22:24 18 Sept — Follow-up by Counsel on reporting restrictions
22:44 26 Sept — Counsel warns ScotGov of weakness in case
25:32 27 Sept — ScotGov gets worried about being found unfair
27:41 30 Oct (a) — ScotGov realise they have a problem
31:29 30 Oct (b) — Mackinnon (who investigated Salmond) gets named
32:58 31 Oct — (introductions to) Hallowe’en horror: Urgent note from Counsel to ScotGov re Mackinnon's appointment
35:51 31 Oct — Hallowe’en horror: Urgent note from Counsel to ScotGov re Mackinnon's appointment
44:45 2 Nov panic meeting — Parliament has been told “no record” was kept
44:57 3 and 5 Nov — Counsel tells ScotGov off for wrong written testimony
56:09 13 Nov panic meeting — This time, again, Parliament has been told “no record” was kept
56:22 6 Dec (a) — Counsel tells ScotGov to drop the case because Salmond is right that Mackinnon was not fit to investigate him
1:21:14 6 Dec (b) — ScotGov warns Lord Advocate and Deputy Solicitor the case should be dropped; Evans gets shirty about Counsel's cautions
1:30:31 11 Dec — Lord Advocate tells ScotGov not to drop the case on any account
1:36:40 16 Dec — Counsel deplores ScotGov's failure to share documents
1:43:48 17 Dec — Counsel tears strips off Lord Advocate and Solicitor-General
2:01:54 19 Dec — Counsel at their wits' end with ScotGov
2:13:49 21 Dec — Counsel threatens to stop representing ScotGov
2:21:39 29 Dec — ScotGov takes stock and realises it has to drop the case
2:31:41 31 Dec — Evans finally faces up to the situation
The legal advice the Scottish Government concealed from Parliament until after Sturgeon's testimony
Read here in chronological order, the material chronicles the Scottish Government's lawyers' mounting indignation at having been strung along by how much the Scottish Government knew had been wrong about the procedure by which Salmond was "got", and documents Permanent Secretary (chief civil servant) Leslie Evans' persistent attitude that legal advice should tell her what she wanted to hear and should not bother her about her forthcoming sworn testimony.
The disclosures read here are hosted at https://www.gov.scot/publicati....ons/legal-advice-rel and are not complete; see https://www.standard.co.uk/new....s/uk/scottish-govern
See also: https://news.sky.com/story/sco....tlands-chief-law-off and https://www.scotsman.com/news/....politics/records-of- and https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/....news/politics/record
Mentions of “the first respondent” and “the second respondent” at around the first half-hour mark and around the 54-minute mark in these readings refer to Leslie Evans, Permanent Secretary (the Scottish Government's chief civil servant), and to the Scottish Ministers.
A chronology is at https://www.parliament.scot/Ha....rassmentComplaintsCo
Please note that, owing to a coincidence of dates, 2 and 13 November 2017 (dates on which the Scottish Government sent out messages to all its staff which Alex Salmond argues pre-cooked the procedure against him) should not be confused with 2 and 13 November 2018 (dates on which the Scottish Government consulted its legal counsel in a panic about the forthcoming Judicial Review but “took no notes”). It seems even Roddy Dunlop QC made a typo in that regard; “2 November 2018”, as read out at 54:46, seems to have been an error for ”2 November 2017”.
0:00 Introduction to the readings
3:30 4 Sept 2018 — Counsel to ScotGov, general advice
13:11 17 Sept (a) — Lord Advocate to Sturgeon/Evans, case strategy
17:20 17 Sept (b) — Counsel to ScotGov on reporting restrictions
22:24 18 Sept — Follow-up by Counsel on reporting restrictions
22:44 26 Sept — Counsel warns ScotGov of weakness in case
25:32 27 Sept — ScotGov gets worried about being found unfair
27:41 30 Oct (a) — ScotGov realise they have a problem
31:29 30 Oct (b) — Mackinnon (who investigated Salmond) gets named
32:58 31 Oct — (introductions to) Hallowe’en horror: Urgent note from Counsel to ScotGov re Mackinnon's appointment
35:51 31 Oct — Hallowe’en horror: Urgent note from Counsel to ScotGov re Mackinnon's appointment
44:45 2 Nov panic meeting — Parliament has been told “no record” was kept
44:57 3 and 5 Nov — Counsel tells ScotGov off for wrong written testimony
56:09 13 Nov panic meeting — This time, again, Parliament has been told “no record” was kept
56:22 6 Dec (a) — Counsel tells ScotGov to drop the case because Salmond is right that Mackinnon was not fit to investigate him
1:21:14 6 Dec (b) — ScotGov warns Lord Advocate and Deputy Solicitor the case should be dropped; Evans gets shirty about Counsel's cautions
1:30:31 11 Dec — Lord Advocate tells ScotGov not to drop the case on any account
1:36:40 16 Dec — Counsel deplores ScotGov's failure to share documents
1:43:48 17 Dec — Counsel tears strips off Lord Advocate and Solicitor-General
2:01:54 19 Dec — Counsel at their wits' end with ScotGov
2:13:49 21 Dec — Counsel threatens to stop representing ScotGov
2:21:39 29 Dec — ScotGov takes stock and realises it has to drop the case
2:31:41 31 Dec — Evans finally faces up to the situation
The legal advice the Scottish Government concealed from Parliament until after Sturgeon's testimony