All The Dirt From My Eyes
So, having made a statement on Monday morning which asserted that she wouldn’t make any further statements, then making another statement on Monday afternoon, Nicola Sturgeon and her solicitor issued a third statement in 36 hours last night.
And while we acknowledge that this is a very high bar to clear, it contained one of the most troubling and blatant lies she’s ever told.
The above is a claim so jaw-droppingly obviously completely false that we had to read it several times to check it really said what we thought it said. Because for a whole raft of reasons it was ABSOLUTELY Nicola Sturgeon’s role to sign off the SNP’s accounts in 2020, when the money stolen by Murrell became indisputably noticeable, and for several years thereafter.
Section 42(2)(b) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) requires a party’s accounts to be signed off “by the management committee of the party, if there is one, and otherwise by the registered leader of the party”.
In the SNP’s case that means by the “Party Officers”.
(Indeed, Sturgeon herself was the treasurer in the period in 2021 between Douglas Chapman resigning because Sturgeon’s husband and employee hadn’t let him see the books – fairly important for a treasurer, that one – and the hapless obedient stooge Colin Beattie being reappointed to replace him.)
And the SNP’s financial filings throughout Sturgeon’s reign make clear that she, as one of those three party officers, did indeed approve the accounts personally, and that throughout the period in question they clearly show hundreds of thousands of pounds missing in the shape of the “ringfenced Independence Referendum Campaign Fund”, which should have stood at around £670,000.
Sturgeon is not only morally but legally responsible for those accounts. It was her job as party leader to notice that they only had £97,000 in the bank when they’d just raised nearly £700,000 that they weren’t allowed to have spent.
But as we know, she not only failed to do so but lied threateningly to both the Scottish public and her own National Executive Committee that there was no missing money and that the finances were the healthiest they’d ever been, even at the very moment the party’s treasurer and half of its Finance Committee publicly resigned in protest to draw attention to the problem.
There’s a big difference between not knowing something, and actively and stridently insisting to everyone in sight that the exact opposite thing is definitely true. And the statement from last night then says something even more extraordinary.
Hold on a moment. If you don’t know anything, how much of a “detailed written response” can you actually give? What would that look like?
“Dear The Police,
I know nothing. Not anything. No things. Zero things. None of the things. 0% of the things. Out of all the things, I don’t know any of them. The things are unknown to me. You know those things? Not me, I totally don’t. I categorically deny all knowledge of the things. Me? Know the things? No sir! I quite simply cannot emphasize strongly enough that I don’t know the things. I wasn’t aware the things existed. Do they even exist? It’d totally be news to me, Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon, former First Minister of Scotland, if they did. Because I don’t know any of them. What things are you even talking about? If I was to hold up a finger, of which I have eight plus two thumbs, for each of the things I knew, I’d be holding up no fingers. Or thumbs. At all.”
(Carries on for 17 more pages.)
Believe the silence, readers!
We’re also fascinated by the use of the word “insisted”. Who was she insisting to? Were the police going “No, please don’t send us a detailed written response! We’re begging you!”, but she was all “No, I’m flipping well going to, whether you like it or not!”? Is that how we’re being asked to believe it went?
And if she was so insistent on answering their questions, why not just answer them in the seven hours she spent staring silently at a police station wall instead? It must have been an awfully boring day. Why wait until some unspecified later date and write them a letter? She was arrested by prior arrangement, five weeks after Murrell, so she had plenty of warning that she might be questioned and time to have the answers ready.
(We wonder what Sturgeon and Murrell discussed at dinner over those five weeks.)
There is of course a very easy way to prove that she sent that “detailed written response” – release it. There’s no possible reason not to. Murrell has already admitted his guilt and Sturgeon is no longer under investigation, so there’s no live case to prejudice. The full list of things Murrell bought with the stolen money (many of which she’s been personally pictured with) is already public, so there’s no danger of new embarrassment. And all it says is that she knows nothing anyway. What’s to fear?
She tells us she’s got nothing to hide. So show us. Show us how convincing your denials were. Show us just how fully you, as a responsible innocent citizen, member of Parliament, role model and key witness, co-operated with a police enquiry, beyond blanking all their questions for seven long hours.
The only reason we can think of is that every time Sturgeon opens her mouth about this case, she digs herself a deeper hole by telling more and more easily-provable lies. She lied about not being responsible for signing off the accounts. She lied about “co-operating fully” with the police. It looks like she lied about the campervan, the biggest single piece of Murrell’s booty.
Practically the only thing she’s told the truth about in the whole sordid business is that “Peter does most of the shopping in my household”.
(She couldn’t even describe Murrell honestly in her first statement on Monday. He is in fact still her husband.)
Over the coming weeks and months Sturgeon is going to have to face some very awkward questions, particularly around the serious crime of reset.
So she may as well get ahead of the game and tell us now.
Or as the investigating officer might put it:
“And you say way too much
But still I need an answer, love
Still I need an answer, loveKindly be kind, wipe all the dirt from my eyes
I need an answer
I need an answer.”
I think you are being to cruel.
As far as I can tell, her wedding night was her first encounter with being in the arms of a real man.
The dizzying ecstasy of that moment clearly turned her head for as long as it was convenient.
That is why she was adamant that it is fine for male weirdos to invade female spaces.
Hopefully, lessons will be learned.
.
Hi Stuart,
It is a huge comfort knowing all of those hours and all of the corrupt efforts to intimidate you, then steal your equipment under trumped up charges and the rest of the gerrymandered efforts to close you down have failed and are CONTINUING to fail, as those whose grip on the levers controlling power are booted out of office, then made politically impotent as their friend in high places scuttle off/duck for cover. Sturgeon has as impotent as Peter Murrell.
Whether or not Anwar brings the legal system into disrepute is a different matter, but he too has questions to answer, albeit on issues unrelated to the current celebrity warning letters/emails with which he has embarrassingly littered the offices of national newspaper editors.
As for Saint Nicola, her reputation is set in concrete. She is a political pariah. Whether she is interviewed for malfeasance in respect of the dissonance between her public protestations of how she states she “cooperated fully” with the police when she gave a dubious “no-comment” interview is another matter. It has been omitted that she WILL have been cautioned by the police:-
The standard UK police caution, required by law under Code C of PACE 1984, is:
“You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence”.
No spin by the publicity hungry creepy wee lawyer can alter that fact. Just wait until Sturgeon gets his celebrity bill.
Whatever happens now, the birds of a feather are all getting looked at more closely by the police. This ain’t over by a long way.
The Canal Boat Borgen has-been would be wise to follow her dubious conduct on earlier arrest… shut the fluck up and take your inflated pension as the worst FM in Scotland’s history, buy yourself a remote cottage up by the A82 at Glen Coe because all the Isla Bryson and Andrew Millar/Amy George, along with Beth, Picklebee Douglas are about to become Branchform Mark 2.
My instinct is that Sturgeon will get her weird fan-girl wish. Birgitte Nyborg, played by actress Sidse Babett Knudsen will see Sidse, the actress play the part of Sturgeon. I am looking forward to the tv drama where actress Sidse Babett Knudsen is under arrest and turns her chair to face the wall for 7 hours.
No Stuart, you have done the right thing at great personal cost. This set of Murrell Custodial Dominoes has a long way to go yet.
Whilst Ms Sturgeon will have been formally cautioned, I doubt that it will have been under the provisions of Pace, which doesn’t as far as I’m aware apply under Scots law.
When you are arrested in Scotland, a police officer must inform you of your rights under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016.
“This Practice Note outlines the Scottish procedure for obtaining a civil recovery order in the Court of Session under Chapter 2 of Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002).”
link to lexisnexis.co.uk
Get tore into her.
Burn her whole world down.
Don’t stop until she is behind bars.
Police Scotland’s Standard Operating Procedure governing the arrest process as the following:
“I am arresting you under Section 1 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 for (general nature of offence). The reason for your arrest is that I suspect you have committed an offence and I believe that keeping you in custody is necessary and proportionate for the purposes of bringing you before a court or otherwise dealing with you in accordance with the law. Do you understand?
You are not obliged to say anything but anything you do say will be noted and may be used in evidence. Do you understand?
I do require you to give me your name, date of birth, place of birth, nationality and address.
You have the right to have a solicitor informed of your arrest and to have access to a solicitor. These rights will be explained to you further on arrival at the police station.”
As has been said elsewhere, all this illustrates Sturgeon’s ambivalence to Independence. Large amounts of money that could have been used in intelligent ways to promote Independence were squandered, both via criminal embezzlement in kitting out the Sturgeon household but also on what is essentially legal embezzlement – vanity-based transport, venues etc. Unnecessary stuff.
And all this was accepted as normal, signed off, and defended both to the public and the party.
They were pigs in troughs – donated and taxpayers income was treated as disposable, benefitting only a couple of people. They saw it as their right to spend Independence funds on whatever the hell they liked. Their pockets came first, Independence second. And the scorn that was poured on anyone who might suggest there was a lack of fiscal propriety! It makes me so angry, the contempt that was shown to SNP members and the public. Not to mention the harm done to careers of otherwise potentially great SNP contributors.
All this while stage-managing their appearance to be holier than thou.
Scotland, and any thoughts of Independence, can not progress until these putrid, swollen boils are lanced. Bring on the court cases.
replace ambivalence with hostility and I’ll go right along
“it was not the role of the First Minister to sign off accounts that was for the party treasurer.”
Classic piece of lawyerly lying without lying – it is technically correct, as it isn’t the FM’s job. It is the party leader’s job, they just happen to be the same person.
It’s irrelevant whether the accounts are signed off by the Party Leader or the Treasurer – at least one person in authority, preferably two, must sign them off. Furthermore, they must be audited (and it goes without saying that this requires an honest, competent practitioner/firm!).
If the police wanted her to talk they should have put a TV cameraman behind the camera
…or give her a little podium.
Getting her out of the interview room would then become the problem.
Not her role as First Minister. Arguably, that is not the role of the First Minister and she may be trying to use that as her excuse but as she held a dual role……
“Not her role as First Minister. Arguably, that is not the role of the First Minister and she may be trying to use that as her excuse but as she held a dual role……”
But she WAS the First Minister. They were the same person. So it was her role.
I feel like not enough is being made of Murrell loaning the SNP £107,000. Even then did it not occur to Nicola to say “wait a minute, where did you get that from?” And why did they need it if their finances were healthy?
Nick, you clearly has never benn in loving,passionate wedlock
Mr Anwar should try some stand up if he thinks his claim that she insisted she would provide a written statement to the police AFTER she had been questioned and had time to think of some answers whilst in control of this process, is meant to impress us. You are a funny guy Mr Anwar.
Murrell and Sturgeon looted Scotland.
And (prediction) they’ll get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Because they know too much about the current SNP leadership (who were complicit in the thieving).
a slap on the wrist…and lot of dough, no mention of any recoveries.
AA can’t be a very good lawyer if he doesn’t know /understand the companies act.
Also, he has a conflict of interest as he is “the Solicitor acting on behalf of the “Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice” “, according to his practice’s website.
Amer Ambulance chases more dodgy, high profile clients than a pack of dugs after a van. This week he is defending two violent thugs who kicked the shit out of armed plod. Though footage was leaked by another ambulance chaser Yakoub, to present them as victims, another video showed the truth. Anwar tried to turn it into the Civil rights case of the centuryon the basis that the footage went viral. With Sturgeon it will be the same tactic,too much public comment ,never get a fair trial etc.
The most infuriating thing about Sturgeon getting off Scot-free is that there is now no chance she will be forced to share a prison cell with a man. It’s not a fate I would wish on another woman, but Sturgeon has so loudly and stridently defended the merits of locking women up with penis-wielding predators that I think it would be only fair for her to experience the effects of her own policy.
This is making me wonder about all those whatsapp messages that Sturgeon and others illegally deleted en masse at the end of the covid crisis. Is that in this timeline of deceit?
Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon: the Fred Astaire and Jane Powell of Scottish politics.
I call them this because of the song from Fred and Jane’s 1951 movie, Royal Wedding: How could you believe me when I told you that I love you when you know I’ve been a liar all my life.
This is believed me to be the longest song title in the history of popular music, fitting given how long Operation Branchform took to reach a conclusion.
The Sex Pistols song ‘Liar’ is a more precise artistic understanding of the situation and its only one word. No thrills no distractions. Straight to the fucking point.
Scotland needs to learn to stop blaming everyone else for its ills.
Bet sneaky Pete is finding consolation in jail listening to Jimmy Nails song “Ain’t no doubt”.
Probably sings along to the “she’s lying” bits..
In her Instagram post on the matter, she referred to Peter Murrell as “my former husband” in the very first sentence.
I was curious about this because there had been no previous report that the divorce had been finalised, there is no record of the divorce on the Scotland’s People website, and just last month on the ITV show “The Assembly”, she referred to Mr. Murrell as “my husband”.
I appreciate that it is possible she might have been unaware of the hundreds of thousands of pounds of stolen goods she had in her home, but it seems extraordinary for her not to be able to recall if she is or is not married.
I see Joan McAlpine, and a few honest others, are giving you the credit you wholly deserve for shining a light on the dishonesty of the SNP, in the form of Murrell and others. Hopefully proceeds of crime will recover most of the stolen items, such as the £943 oak stepladder, though many in the SNP would need a fireman’s ladder to reach for the truth! Swinney says he is shocked and betrayed yet you pointed out the potential swindle years ago; the SNP donors have been betrayed (yet probably not shocked). Oliver Twist comes to mind, Fagan would not be out of place in the modern SNP!!
Better than the Herald did, just mentioning a ‘website’.
Well done Rev. The carrion are circling. The hounds smell blood. The game is afoot. The ‘English media’ are foaming at the mouth.
Give yourself a big clap on the back, sit back and say I told you so!
Carrion Campervan
It’s frustrating to see politicians constantly shifting their positions like this. The repeated statements do create a lot of confusion.
Another brilliant article. Thanks. Without you Stuart and a few other notables exposing the truth,revealing the essentially criminal nature of the sturgeon cabal, they would have probably gotten away with this crime.
As you note every time sturgeon makes a further statement, these consist of obviously false, easy to disprove statements. Please continue to expose these and Sturgeons rotten nature for all to see.
Nicola Sturgeon is going to jail.
Has Peter Murrell’s mother been interviewed by the police? Just curious because she can disprove or prove Sturgeon’s story.
To be honest, and I rarely am, If I thought the English colonial state was protecting me in perpetuity from all possible consequences of my criminal activities whilst First Minister of Scotland, I would maist likely have taken whatever cash a could hiv laid ma hauns oan, tae
Aye, and a wid hae blinged masel stupit, anaw.
Pens, jewellery, electronics, expensive watches, and extravagant Pictish motifs tattooed aw ower ma sexy boady… all of that would be a certainty.
Motors and boats and a time-share in Monaco would have been on my shopping list, tae.
Pishin’ cash awa in casinos, languishing in seven star hotels (there’s one in Dubai I like the look of) with gold-plated everything, a nice wee beach hoose in Portugal, I would have had it all.
Of course, I would have nicked a lot more than a poxy half mil – in for £400K in for £5 million is my motto.
Whit are ye like… aw yous dudley-do-rights oot thair pretendin’ yer aw honest… gie me a brek.
By the way, I’d be surprised if the pair o thaim get mair than a wee tellin aff fae the empire.
Either that or the two of them disappear onto a luxury yacht operated by MI11 and are never heard fae agin.
I expect it’ll just be a wee tellin’ aff efter a big show of ‘justice being done’, tho.
You uppity jocks whining about how the empire runs its Scottish possession, its favourite colony… how dare you!
You sweaties should be honoured the empire can be bothered putting on a show for you at all.
Get back in your fucking box!!
Havers, Northy.
A handful of beads, a mirror or two, and a pint of fire water and you’d be the happiest you’ve ever been.
Camper Van!! you just couldn’t get a more apt name for a mode of transport for they two other than really Trans It Van. Oh I really do hope it gets hotter for her and she finally gets her collar felt by plod.
Some wag described it as “Mein Kampfervan” the other day, which did raise a smile 😀
As a compromissed asset of the british security services, she will feel protected and may well avoid jail time. That being said, she will only be of use to them as long as they feel she is. As their asset, they can publically destroy her at will if it seeks to serve them.
Having drank from the posioned challice, she is herself posioned by greed, hatred and jelousy. An Mi5 asset from the early days, she is owned. her only freedom from her owners is the false assumption of importance. Bought and owned, enslaved and corrupted by her own greedy desires, the truth is starting to dawn.
Look in her eyes. behind the hate is cold fear and realisation that the height of the fall is huge!
MI5 did their job, Scotland payed the price. T’was ever thus!
Slightly OT, but has anyone got any idea why the investigation lasted for so many years and why it took so long to come to court? It is not like Murrell had some criminal empire with money being laundered 15 times across 5 continents. We are talking about a bunch of items that were put through the expenses. Are they such difficult things to list that it takes years (and a blue tent) to do it?
I cant see the point of all this. We all want Scottish Independence. Murrel is vonvicted Sturgeon is history we have a job to do. Get out and convice people that Indy is our way out of the Westminster horror show. If you have to get personal attack Farage and his sleazy backhanders. REMEMBER sarwars gathet and the goings on at GC Council. Pull together folks. FOR SCOTLAND
Izzie, as an independence supporter, I don’t now see how trying to sweep this, and the Alex Salmond issues, under the carpet, can possibly work. Nicola, Murrell, Swinney and others in their cabal have done huge damage to very many well intentioned independence supporters who have tried very hard to keep the party on the straight and narrow, and suffered greatly for their efforts.
The cat’s out of the bag at last and it will get worse before it gets better.
When you’re out campaigning you’ll be trying to answer some very tricky questions.
Good luck with that, you’ll need it.
It doesnt seem to be r esonating with the folk I speak to People seem to think that it is a witch hunt and there are more important things to worry about. Whats done is done let’s move on and renew the fight for independence. There are enough gainsayers about.
Izzie & 7.05
Is that, Izzie, the word coming down the line from the top to the party-before-country faithful?
What a load of nonsense!
This is the sort of BS we expected and got for years from the Tories and Labour! You lot were supposed to be so very very much better..
Well that’s not going well is it?
And don’t give me this doorstep nonsense, what you’re hearing and reporting is your fellow canvassers pep talk and like all canvassers are adept at turning the doorstep conversation away from uncomfortable matters to, well, your pep talk that you are telling us here thinking we are thick..
I am sick to death of you SNP die-hards plucking out Scotlands place at times of election only to fall back on yer pet foibles the minute yer safely voted in and can safely put independence back on the top shelf marked “only to be bothered about when there is an election in the offing”..
Party members/ foot soldiers..
I reckon it’s a case of people across the spectrum looking for a hobby and a social network.
I’d respect you more if you angrily held yer own to account, not just close ranks and talk over issues..
Auld Scotia isn’t benefiting from your activities and won’t.
Get radical, politically, not in social experimentation..
D’Izzie…
Let me use a word you might understand…
“Scunnered”.
Over 400,000 people are so scunnered by Sturgeon, Murrell and all the other charlatans in the SNP that they couldn’t even bring themselves to vote for them a couple of weeks ago.
Not only that, but only 53% of the electorate bothered to vote. When spoiled ballots are removed from the 53% total you’ll probably find only 50% of the electorate actually endorsed a party/candidate.
50% !!!
That’s what politics in Scotland has become under Sturgeon and her successors.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the campaign for Indy, thanks to the scumbags in the SNP, is no longer a shade of sky blue, but full on Norwegian Blue…as in dead parrot!
So long as the SNP consider themselves to be the self-appointed belle of the Indy ball it will remain thus.
The biggest obstacle to Scottish Independence?
The corrupt and corrupted SNP.
Indy for Scotland!
SNP Out!
It doesnt seem to be r esonating with the folk I speak to People seem to think that it is a witch hunt and there are more important things to worry about. Whats done is done let’s move on and renew the fight for independence. There are enough gainsayers about.
I’m not surprised it doesn’t resonate with the equally deluded and myopic types I imagine you speak to… all regular worshipers at the Wee Ginger Fud Esoteric Order of Saint Nicla no doubt.
A fish rots from the head Izzie, and there’s nothing quite as rotten as Sturgeon’s SNP, whose sole and singular achievement in the last decade is to have scuppered any chance of achieving Independence this side of 2050 through fracturing a common cause into a dozen plus parts whilst driving supporters of Indy away from active participation in politics; just look at the membership now FFS!
All just to satisfy her mahoosive ego, pursue/impose her gender/woke ideology, destroy her political opponents, hang her husband out to dry and then swan off into the sunset to focus on her book deals, daytime TV appearances and shopping for comfortable shoes with her fat friends.
If you fail to see the reality of the situation then you’ve obviously and wilfully not been paying attention.
Will Murrell turn up to the sentencing hearing dressed in tight pink leggings, claim he is trans and end up in a women’s prison?
Did you have to? I have a revolting image now stuck in my head , putting me off my tea!
Amelda Murrell will probably be running a sweepstake with the inmates tobacco rations.
There are calls for an inquiry.
“John Swinney has resisted calls for an investigation, saying the matter is being handled by police.
The First Minister said: “I don’t think there’s a need for a Holyrood inquiry. There’s been a police inquiry. What more do we need to look into?”
——————————————————
Swinney showing again just how thick he is.
The Police Inquiry was focused on whether or not there was embezzlement over a number of years. (proved that there was)
An inquiry now should be undertaken to find out exactly HOW he was able to get away with it, and for so long.
Thick? Or devious? Maybe both. One thing I am sure of is endless paragraphs of “Oooh look, squirrels” from the utterly supine media.
Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find that whoever wrote SNP’s articles of Association / Constitution / whatever, that the Party Treasurer is personally liable for any debts when they are signing off the accounts.
PETTY & not so petty crime in the piss pot of contemprary politics.
When democracy goes wrong the answer is. should you actually care, «fix it».
The piss pot political class survives because the masses do not care enough.
24/7 oversight & accountability, by the people, is at the core of democracy.
«The point is that you can’t be too greedy»
Donald TRUMP
Good grief!
I’ve never been arrested but surely tae fck the police don’t let suspects go home & they can just hand in a letter later? WTF?
I thought these interviews were tae put ye on the back foot & have an element of surprise..
She’s as guilty as sin. She was the party leader – the buck stops there. Even if she wasn’t initially in on it – klaxons surely went off when three people resigned in protest at not being given access to the accounts & she would’ve been aware then that there was something seriously wrong.
Why didn’t they just put the money back? It’s not like they were skint. She could’ve given her book deal. It’s not even offering to make amends that annoys me. He at least admitted it. She’s just doubling down on the stupid & insulting everyones intelligence that they swallow her bullshit.
Everyone was right about them. Nod to Iain Lawson & Alex Salmond in particular who both said they should never have been allowed to rule the SNP together. There was a conflict of interest. He should’ve been forced to step down when she became FM.
Thieving bastards.
It’s a sad reflection on the state of Scotland that Sturgeon has been allowed to walk Scot free in all of this.
What are the chances of her ever being brought to justice?
She’s literally walked off into the sunset with two fingers up to fellow Scots and determined to lmilk the cushy z-list celeb lifestyle. Her USP is, ‘It wisnae me, I had nae idea and yes, Alex wiz a bad guy.’
That would be ‘scot-free’. Ok?
It doesn’t have a capital as it has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘Scots’.
After hundreds of posts, all hoaching with outright lies, why should we choose to believe your latest one, Geri?
I well recall the Covid Days when plenty of posters on here were absolutely emphatic that Sturgeon was the only barrier standing between them and certain, hideous death.
Anybody questioning that narrative was shouted down. You’d have been in the forefront of that, Geri, because running with the mob always has been your default position.
“Everyone was right about them”
Not you, Geri. Not you.
If I were the head of a political party, like JS is, and had been made aware that £c660,000 of “ring fenced” funds had disappeared, I would be relieved that £c400,000 had been “found”, albeit I would be a trifle upset. However, I’d still be left wondering where the £c260,000 balance was. Has JS been asked and, if so, is he doing anything to find out ? Or is he happy for his party’s supporters to be left in the dark.
“The Presiding Officer (Kenneth Gibson)
The next item of business is an urgent question in relation to Peter Murrell. As Mr Murrell has still not been sentenced—the hearing is scheduled for 23 June—the case remains active for contempt of court purposes and the sub judice rule is engaged. However, given that Mr Murrell has pled guilty, there will be no jury trial evidence, and sentencing will be overseen by a judge. The risk of prejudice to the proceedings and contempt of court as a result of commentary in Parliament is significantly reduced. Therefore, given public interest in the matter and the low risk of contempt, I exercise my discretion to allow the question and permit discussion in the chamber. Reputationally, in order to respect the role of the courts, the principle of comity and the separation of powers, I expect members not to comment on Mr Murrell’s sentencing—that is, how long he should be sentenced for et cetera.”
———————————————
Excellent comment by the Presiding Officer during the debate yesterday.
Sounds like Mr Gibson wasn’t paying attention when it was explained to him that a shortfall in the separation of powers in Scotland is behind a lot of the untouchable criminality afflicting HR.
One begins to wonder if the principal reason Murrell and others were so frightened of Alex Salmond returning to frontline politics with the SNP and the consequent “fitting him up” was the possibility he would uncover the financial irregularities – after all from revelations in the past 48 hours it appears Murrell may have had previous form in this regard. Makes a bit of sense though am not sure the timelines correspond.
You’ve got to wonder did he already know from the outset that
there never was going to be a referendum?
They say ever party is infiltrated by the security services and the pliable probably see themselves untouchable.
Those who ask the former FM to ‘come clean’ are whistling into the wind
I know nothing of Scots law but it seems very unusual to me to announce that someone is-in effect-absolved;’ go- soar to new heights-live your best life’, etc
It struck me from the outset that seeking to prove knowledge of a collection of costly tat bought by another would be unlikely to found a prosecution, though it could be supporting evidence. Meantime, years have passed, which never helps
A far more promising line, to my mind, would have been misfeasance/misconduct in public office. Deliberately to purport that finances are in apple-pie order -either deliberately or in reckless ignorance- seems to me quite close to the mark. Has this, too, been discounted ?
If nailed on evidence of either Sturgeon’s or Beattie’s culpability were to emerge could Police Scotland reopen the case?
We have a precedent. Poe did spend some childhood time in Ayrshire, Nicola’s home gaff, after all. Maybe he’s where she gets her guilty inspiration from.
link to poemuseum.org
I don’t believe for a minute we’re looking at 400k I reckon the figure is far greater.
I heard Colin Beattie on TV yesterday and he looked like startled deer when asked if perhaps he should have looked into the questions raised by others about the party finances and he just scuttled off. All I can say that if someone as stupid as him can rise so far up the SNP then it is no wonder Sturgeon was able to rule as an absolute dictator so easily. I think Wings has said this before – just surround yourself with idiots to make you look good and Sturgeon certainly did that.
Why did Beattie stand again? He’s well past retirement age and clearly a clown. There was a massive likelyhood this case would blow up in his face within the first year of the parliament.
Why not retire any be well out of contact, out of the country any time one of the trials were due to take place?
Did they still think they could pull strings and collapse the case?
It cost him £20,000 to his local branch in order to get the nomination as candidate. Something very, very odd about this and his Treasurer-ship. I’m a Treasurer and make sure that all records are seen by my fellow-trustees – it’s not difficult to be scrupulous.
Good evening Rev. Congratulations on cutting through all the nonsense and getting straight to the point. Something you should know regarding police interview procedure and the use of ‘No Comment’. I cannot speak for Scotland, but in England, in order to combat the overuse of ‘No Comment’ replies by ‘Organised’ and other criminals to evade providing answers to relevant questions, the UK Parliament amended the Police & Criminal Evidence act (PACE) to include ‘Special warnings’. How this worked in practice was that when a suspect repeatedly declined to explain their conduct on specific questions, for example, “How do you account for being photographed wearing this pendant that we now know to have been obtained by deception or theft?” Where the suspect repeatedly responded with ‘No comment’, the interviewing officer would complete the interview, then give them an opportunity to clarify anything. When the suspect again said ‘No comment’, the interviewing officer then asked every single question again, but this time, after the ‘No comment’ response, the suspect was informed that they were now subject to a “Special warning’ that stated that since they had declined two opportunities to give their version of events, a court could now make an inference on the validity of any explanation they later gave in court, from the fact they had previously declined to do so in interview. I would be surprised if that facility does not also exist in Scotland. It had the effect of letting juries know that what they were hearing from the now talkative accused may well be utter bollocks. I am also surprised that the press are simply accepting all the nonsense coming out of the SNP. Is there no one like you in the Scottish Press? Keep on going mate, you are doing a great job.
This whole business is just one more example of how the institutions of Scotland work nowadays.
I tried to leave a comment a couple of hours ago, but it is not there, so I am trying again.
Can someone explain to me why the investigation lasted for years? It is not like they were investigating some kind of elaborate fraud with money laundered in 10 different countries. How difficult can it have been to establish that he bought some mount blanc pens and a salt and pepper set on the company card?
I don’t know but many of us were frustrated at the time it was taking and asked the same thing. The Crown Office were generally getting the blame for that though I never saw written anything in detail
Sarah,
its strange indeed. I would put money on him retiring was shocked when i saw he was standing again. He was so nearly free of it.
Sarah. why on earth would a 70odd yr old man, who has gone through years of stress want to put himself through more? I have never, ever heard a branch demand that the branch be paid before they selected a candidate. Even a constituency branch run by an ‘executive’ of insiders like the one I was in.
I don’t know the facts, I just read somewhere about it. I got the impression that it wasn’t that the branch “demanded” the money. More a case of him saying “if you select me, I will give £20,000 to the branch”. It’s not surprising that they accepted but it seems extraordinary that he made the proposition. Surely this kind of inducement should have been investigated?
If someone else had put themselves forward for selection that would look terrible. If no-one else wanted the job then it could have been a gift given after the formality of the selection process had concluded. It is not normal, whatever the circumstances. A wealthy member can donate 20k anytime I suppose.
Surely to christ, Beattie has to step down as treasurer? .. and one more security guard is no longer there to protect their old boss.
Stuart McDonald is down as treasurer. My theory doesnae work then! They couldbae hae been that brassneckit.
It is hard to believe that Colin Beattie could have been paid for being the SNP treasurer all those years, or was it a voluntary position?
Nicola, Nicola, Better think quickola
Pray that your fans are particola thickola
The gong round your neck
And that pen in your hand
Ye just cannae recall being everso grand
«To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them; that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and that if we go forward it is due to them too, that there is no such thing as a demiurge, that there is no famous man who will take the responsibility for everything, but that the demiurge is the people themselves and the magic hands are finally only the hands of the people»
Frantz Fanon
In other words, if you (the people) put junk in don’t be surprised if you get junk out.
I believe that what Fanon is really doing here is trying to break a psychological chain.
Colonised peoples are often taught to wait, to obey, to hope for rescue, to look upward for authority, to believe change comes from ‘above’.
Fanon is saying:
He isn’t saying, “if you (the people) put junk in don’t be surprised if you get junk out.”
That’s just piling another burden on folk who are already burdened by their oppression.
Fanon isn’t saying anything like that… his aim is to raise colonised peoples up, not put them down.
A rather romantic interpretation.
If the people fail to engage with being «raised up» what then?
Ultimately, as Fanon came to realise, force by the minority who have psychologically engaged may be required.
Lecturing the people is futile. Perversely a «demiurge» may be necessary to kick start the mechanism.
“Ultimately, as Fanon came to realise, force by the minority who have psychologically engaged may be required.”
It can’t be denied Fanon argues that force sometimes becomes part of anti?colonial struggle.
But, crucially, he’s speaking about colonial situations where political avenues are closed, representation is denied, violence is already being used by the colonial state, and the colonised population is prevented from peaceful self?determination.
In that context Fanon argues that violence is already present and the colonised are simply responding to it.
He isn’t saying:
He’s saying, that in a colonial situation, the colonised often discover their agency through resistance, but only because all other avenues have been closed to them.
The Scots aren’t in that place — not yet, anyway. They still have peaceful options open to them.
You’re right when you say lecturing a people is futile… political speeches alone don’t awaken a people – the masses must find ways to rouse themselves.
But how?
What will awaken them?
A people awaken when the myth of inevitability cracks.
Colonial power rests on an important psychological foundation:
“This is just how things are.”
The Scots have lived with that belief for centuries.
But the moment people stop believing that, the spell breaks.
This crack in a people’s psychological prison might come from a scandal, a betrayal, a moment of state overreach, a humiliation, a symbolic insult, or a failure of the coloniser to live up to its own ideals.
Fanon calls this: “the moment the colonised discover their own weight.”
The Scots might not be there quite yet, but they are about to step onto the scales.
Keep digging and asking the awkward questions, Stu.
As another commenter stated, it gives a good insight into the workings of the state institutions in current-day Scotland. And quite frankly, the smell of corruption is minging tae high heaven, worse than my undercrackers under my MJOLNIR battle armour after a long fight with The Covenant.
The infamous trope “Big Jock Knew” has been superseded by “Wee Nicola Knew”. No armchair detectives required to work that one out; even the most ignorant partisan shill can see what’s happened.
“the workings of the state institutions in current-day Scotland”
..is indeed a subject requiring of careful consideration, especially given the reality that a colonial society will tend to be administered by colonial institutions which always “carries the seeds of fascist temptation in its bosom” (Memmi):
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
If only we could see front page headlines followed by a full investigation of the behaviour of SNP & especially Sturgeon, Murrel, Swiney and all that sat in HER cabinet at the time..That the REV does so brilliantly.. The so called Journalists in Scotland are as corrupt as the SNP under Sturgeon ever was..I just wish all of those or at least some of them that did donate to that INDY fund, would bring a civil suit against her & Swiney as he was her deputy also..
That would be a crowd funder I would gladly donate too..
The Spectator on X has posted a very good graph showing SNP funds spent by Peter Murrell over the years.
link to x.com
That Spectator article is interesting.
It not only shows Murrell’s spending pattern. It also claims that the SNP admitted it had spent the £480k+ from the crowd-funder on the 2017 Westminster election.
That is problematic for 2 reasons. It is illegal to use crowd-funded money for any purpose other than that for which was raised, and we know that that purpose was not the 2017 general election.
We know that because the crowd-funder started on 13 March 2017 and the Scottish Parliament agreed on a request for a Section 30 order on 28 March. At that point, the next Westminster election was scheduled for May 2020 under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. Theresa May declared her intention to seek an earlier election on 18 April 2017, by which time the bulk of the crowd-funder monies had already been donated. (My diary entry for 13 March 2017 notes that they’d raised 10% of their £1 million target in the first 12 hours.)
Im at a loss as to how this endless stirring and poking advances the Cause. The Unionists should be the target has noone noticed that Westminster has denied we Scots the right to a say in our future. That us the message I take with me to the doorsteps.
We had our say on 18th September 2014. You must have forgotten.
Are you saying blatant corruption is acceptable because it is “Nationalists” involved? I’m not sure what this has to do with “Unionists”, who by the way are also making their own mess of things whilst mired in filthy corruption and engaging in a psychopathic hatred of their own population.
Blinkered partisanship like this just baffles me quite frankly. WOS is a breath of fresh air as it tells the facts regardless of what side anyone’s on, which is what attracts me to this blog.
Are you saying Police Scotland are incompetent? They have investigated. If you are an SNP member you are a victim. If not you are not. Section 30 was requested by a democraticly elected Government we should be asking what are we going to do about it?
I can tell you what the SNP are going to do about it…
NOTHING
Except wring their hands and keep cashing in the cheques from Westminster whilst relieving idiots like yourself Izzie of their hard earned.
By the way…
The ring fenced funds which miraculously vanished like a fart in the wind comprised donations from Indy supporters and NOT simply SNP members! How do I know? Because I donated yet left the party years ago!
I’ve a spare pair of specs in my bedside drawer Izzie. You can borrow them if you like as you seem to have a problem reading!
Do you think the former party chief exec going to prison for a 12-year campaign of embezzlement which has left the party nearly bankrupt is not going to be somewhat of an issue when fundraising? Or if we just ignore it and pretend it didn’t happen, do you think Kier will be up for the Section 30 order?
Izzie, just say it: “wheesht for Indy”
You know you want to.
Izzie, you should read what Robin McAlpine has to say about it all today. You might find his comments a helpful source of information when trying to answer people’s questions on their doorsteps.
Thank yoy
Sturgeon has proven herself to be no better than scabrous filth. What goes around comes around; her day will come and the sooner the better.
Scotland’s disgrace!
Let’s hope Murrell doesn’t get his b***side shredded whilst he is in jail. That would be a wee shame but worthy of a crowd-funder…
Telegraph reporting that calls are growing to investigate PM further to ascertain if taxpayer funds were also defrauded. Electoral Commission gave the SNP £2.2m between 2010 and 2022, which he would have allegedly has direct access to.
As Mr Spock would have it, “fascinating”.
I’ve never agreed with the “Wha’s like Us” fantasy, that politicians in Scotland have better morals and are more competent than politicians in England and elsewhere.
On the contrary, Scotland’s history and current affairs show that Scotland’s politicians must be held to greater scrutiny for competence and probity, not less.
It took Stu Campbell and Sean Clerkin’s interventions before anything was done about the financial corruption in the SNP – the party of government.
However, the SNP still haven’t answered: What happened to all of the “ringfenced” £667,000 indyref fund? That money is NOT SNP money.
The SNP -and Nicola Sturgeon- must be held accountable for that money.
Every penny must be replaced (apart from donations already refunded).
Spot on Colin. The theft of £667,000 from individual SNP members and members of the public has not been addressed. This is quite different from the charges Murrell faced of embezzling SNP funds. These were NOT SNP funds. We have the appropriate laws but not the will to pursue them. Hard to believe this is down to incompetence rather than the corruption which pervades our justice system.
Spot on Colin. The theft of £667,000 from individual SNP members and members of the public has not been addressed. This is quite different from the charges Murrell faced of embezzling SNP funds. These were NOT SNP funds. We have the appropriate laws but not the will to pursue them. Hard to believe this is down to incompetence rather than the corruption which pervades our justice system.
Is there the option of questioning Murrell and then Sturgeon further, following Murrell’s confession of guilt.
Could the threat of a heavy sentence persuade him to turn Kings Evidence…_