The stories that are true
David Davis speaking in Parliament this evening.
Most of what he said simply confirmed what Wings told you two days ago. We suspect its effect will be no less devastating for all that. The biggest revelations were some of the emails that were exchanged – after the police investigation had begun – between senior SNP staff including Peter Murrell, Sue Ruddick and Ian McCann, and also that the “early interference in Judith Mackinnon’s investigation by special advisers” we described was in fact by the First Minister’s chief of staff Liz Lloyd.
But we won’t spoonfeed you. Watch for yourself. Wear a tin hat.
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For anyone who can’t or doesn’t like watching video, the Spectator has published the transcript of Davis’ speech. Since they stole the text of Alex Salmond’s evidence to the Hamilton inquiry from us, we’re sure they won’t mind us pinching this by way of compensation. Unlike them, we at least have the courtesy to acknowledge the fact.
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“Scotland – A deficit of power and accountability
For the past few months, Scotland has been transfixed by the Holyrood inquiry seeking the truth of what went wrong with the investigations into the former First Minister, Alex Salmond.
The inquiry is investigating matters of the most serious kind. Serious for the proper handling of sexual harassment complaints in Scotland. Serious for the accountability of those in positions of power, including the Scottish Government’s Permanent Secretary and its Lord Advocate. And serious, if the former First Minister’s claims hold any water, for the future of the present First Minister’s administration of Scotland.
These matters are unquestionably something that should properly be dealt with in Holyrood. But Holyrood has great difficulties exposing what went on. The inquiry has come up against endless impediments in its efforts to fulfil its remit.
These difficulties can be traced back to the Scotland Act 1998 in which the British Government of the day, and this House, decided to devolve power to a Scottish Parliament, but failed to do it properly. These failures were broadly on three fronts.
First, this House failed to guarantee separation of powers to Scotland. We have known for centuries that the separation of powers is fundamental to a functioning democracy. Yet in Scotland, the Lord Advocate both leads the prosecution service, and serves in the Scottish Cabinet. This leaves him conflicted and compromised, with his Department’s independence undermined.
Second, the Scottish Civil Service was left as a part of the wider UK Civil Service. It therefore does not have its own mechanisms of control and accountability in place but is only loosely controlled by Whitehall as we shall see in a moment. The result has been tolerance of failings which ordinarily would have led to resignations.
Third and most important, Scottish Parliamentarians were not given the same powers and privileges that MPs of this House enjoy. This means that evidence relevant to the Holyrood inquiry can be freely discussed here today using parliamentary privilege.
But if an MSP in Holyrood were to do the same, they would likely find themselves facing down prosecution. Indeed, the Crown Office has been making such threats to Mr Salmond’s lawyers, to various journalists and even the Holyrood inquiry itself. They made clear that they would deem disclosure of evidence to a committee of elected representatives to be a criminal offence. We have, in effect, given the Holyrood inquiry the right to summon evidence, but not to use it.
It is because of these failings I have brought this debate today. We need to reinforce the ability of the Scottish Parliament to hold its own government to account. I’m here to strengthen the Scottish Parliament, not to bury it. A few weeks ago, I was passed some papers from an anonymous whistle-blower. The information consisted of a download of text messages from the telephone of Sue Ruddick, the Chief Operating Officer of the SNP.
At this point the SNP Chief Whip intervened on a point of order.
Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker, I have I think brought whistleblower views to the attention of this House on about a dozen occasions in the last 20 or 30 years and in every single occasion I have protected the innocent people involved.
Now the download I am talking about – Sue Riddick’s telephone download is held by the Scottish Police, so the accuracy of the account can be checked if they need to. Now Alex Salmond has asserted that there has been a ‘malicious and concerted attempt to remove me from public life in Scotland’…by… ‘a range of individuals within the Scottish Government and the SNP’ who set out to ‘damage [his] reputation, even to the extent of having [him] imprisoned.’
These are incredibly grave charges. The whistle-blower clearly agrees with those charges. He or she starts their communication with the assertion that the evidence provided, and I quote ‘point to collusion, perjury, up to criminal conspiracy.’ Since I received the data it looks as though the committee has received at least some of it themselves, and some has also been put in the public domain by the Hon Member for East Lothian, a previous Justice Secretary in that Scottish government.
It was described anonymously by one of the committee members as ‘just private conversations that we had no business intruding on’. Well I will let the House judge the truth of that. No single sequence of texts is going to provide conclusive proof of what the whistle-blower described as a ‘criminal conspiracy’. But it does show a very strong prima facie case which requires further serious investigation, by which I mean at very least a thorough review of all the emails and other electronic records for the relevant personnel at all the relevant times.
Now for example, these texts show that there was a concerted effort by senior members of the SNP to encourage complaints. The messages suggest that SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell coordinated Ruddick and Iain McCann, the SNP’s Compliance Officer, in the handling of specific complainants.
On the 28th September, a month after the police started their investigation of the criminal case, McCann expressed great disappointment to Ruddick that someone who had promised to deliver five complainants to him by the end of the week had come empty or ‘overreached’ as he put it. One of the complainants said to Ruddick she was ‘feeling pressurised by the whole thing rather than supported’.
In the day following the Scottish Government’s collapse in the judicial review in January 2019, Ruddick expressed to McCann the hope that one of the complainants would be ‘sickened enough to get back in the game’. Later that month, she confirmed to Murrell that the complainant was now ‘up for the fight’ and ‘keen to see him go to jail’.
Ruddick herself in one of her texts expressed nervousness about ‘what happens when my name comes out as fishing for others to come forward’. Note again this was after the criminal investigation into Salmond had commenced. This is improper, to say the least. Contact with, and influence of, potential witnesses is totally inappropriate once a criminal investigation is under way.
That was known inside the SNP itself. The text messages reveal that at an SNP National Executive Committee meeting early in January 2019 the Hon Member for Edinburgh South West raised concerns amongst staff at Westminster that SNP headquarters were engaged in the ‘suborning’ of witnesses, whilst on the 28th August 2018 a senior member of SNP staff in this building described in an email the SNP headquarters move against Salmond as a ‘witch hunt.’
Shortly after charges were brought against Salmond, Peter Murrell sent messages saying it was a good time to be ‘pressurising’ the detectives working on the case, and that ‘the more fronts [Salmond] is having to firefight on the better for all complainants’.
When the Inquiry put these messages to Mr Murrell, he said that they were ‘quite out of character’. That is no defence, even were it true. But having seen evidence of other messages, it seems to me they were all too much in character for Mr Murrell.
In a committee evidence session on 8th December last year Mr Murrell replied under questioning that there were no more messages of the type already in the public domain from January 2019. That statement delivered under oath is hard to reconcile with the dozens of messages stretching over a period of months from September 2018, which I have now seen.
There is more, but it would take the whole of this debate to read them out. I believe the committee needs to gain access to all of this information. I would just say to the anonymous committee member that described them as ‘just private conversations’ that they should understand that meddling in an ongoing police inquiry is at best improper, and at worst criminal. So, it requires proper investigation. And if the committee does not feel it can do the job, perhaps it should ask the police to do so instead.
Which brings us to the complaints process Mr Salmond was subjected to. Now this process was new. Created in late 2017, it was different to existing Scottish Government complaints procedures in a number of ways, including being retrospective, lacking a mediation procedure, and extraordinarily, applying to previous ministers but not to previous Civil Servants.
The procedure was shared with the Head of Propriety and Ethics in Whitehall, who expressed discomfort with the proposals and specifically asked if this was only to apply to ministers not civil servants. As far as I can tell Madam Deputy Speaker she did not get a reply. It is hard to imagine a Department in Whitehall essentially ignoring concerns expressed by the Head of Propriety and Ethics, which is one of the reasons I want Whitehall to review the checks and balances built into the Scottish Civil Service.
However, the Scottish Government also ignored its own policy, the new policy and appointed an Investigating Officer who it emerged had had prior contact with the complainants. And not just any contact. A potential complainant was asked for their input on the draft procedure before they had formally made their complaint.
So, they did not consult women’s advocacy groups – which would have been proper. They did consult trade unions, but not in a proper or timely fashion. Instead, input was sought from the very first complainant whose case would be investigated. Mr Salmond sought judicial review of the process and in due course this complaints procedure and process was judged by Lord Pentland in the highest civil court in Scotland to be ‘unlawful’, ‘unfair’, and ‘tainted by apparent bias’. An astonishing judgment, backed up by the maximum possible punitive award of costs.
The judicial review of 2018 itself led to further extraordinary behaviour by the Scottish Government. In her evidence before the Holyrood inquiry, the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, said her Government’s external counsel were ‘confident’ at the outset of the civil case that they would be successful.? That is a significant mischaracterisation of the advice.
The government’s external Counsel had identified a central vulnerability in the Scottish Government’s case – the complaints procedure, under which Salmond was investigated, had a real risk of being found to be unfair.? Counsel stated, ‘vulnerability arises from the Procedure itself, and not from its implementation in this particular case’.
We now know Counsel came to this conclusion without being given the full facts of the case. Facts that in due course took it from being an arguable case to being a completely unarguable one. External Counsel, Roddy Dunlop QC, gave that first assessment of their chances in late September. By the end of October, he is clearly worried the government had not disclosed important facts about their operation of the process and says at that point it made ‘little sense to continue to defend the indefensible’.
Within a few days he is advising that the ‘least worst option’ is to concede the case. By the 14th December the obvious failure of the government to meet its duty of candour leads to a Commission and Diligence Committee to be appointed to establish the real facts.
On the 19th December, after the first meeting of that Commission the government’s external Counsel tells the government that: ‘With regret, our dismay at this case deepens even further….Suffice to say that we have each experienced extreme professional embarrassment as a result of assurances which we have given, both to our opponents and the court, which assurances have been given on instructions, turning out to be false as a result of the revelation of further documents.’
The Scottish Government pressed on despite counsel’s continued concerns about their ‘untenable position.’ Most remarkably, Counsel told the Scottish Government they were ‘personally horrified’, and they could ‘no longer rest on pleadings that [they knew] to be untrue’. The defence had collapsed because of the government’s lack of candour.
Mr Salmond was very fortunate that the government’s counsel, Mr Roddy Dunlop, now Scotland’s leading QC, behaved with impeccable honour and honesty throughout. And let us be clear, this was not just a case of a government that failed to provide information because it could not manage its own filing systems.
This was a government that actively withheld important, relevant information. In one case a critically relevant email was actively removed from an information bundle that was going to the court and which had already been approved by government counsel. I don’t know who took that email out – I have it here.
I don’t know who took it out, I don’t know who gave the instruction. But in my view the removal of that document would be a summary dismissal offence, and possibly a criminal offence. At the very least it would be in contempt of court.
And yet over his three evidence sessions the Lord Advocate, the Chief Law Officer of Scotland, did not see fit to mention this crucial incident to a Parliamentary committee trying to get to the truth. It only came to light just 10 days ago when the government was forced to publish its legal advice.
It was only in January 2019, after months of increasingly damning advice, that the Scottish Government faced the inevitable and conceded the judicial review.? Costs were awarded against the Scottish Government at a punitive level reserved for defences conducted ‘incompetently or unreasonably’.
The Scottish public will now pay the bill for their Government’s dogged pursuit of a doomed case. More than that, the Scottish Government behaved in a way that was misleading to the court, in a case that had serious implications for the criminal case that was to follow.
The charges in that case were very serious. Had Mr Salmond been guilty of them he would quite rightly have gone to prison, and his reputation would have been destroyed forever. Yet the government were willing to play fast and loose with the facts in a way that, if it had succeeded, would have jeopardised the whole process of justice. For me that is even bigger than the grotesque waste of a million pounds.
As it was, of course, he was exonerated on all charges by a predominantly female jury in a criminal court presided over by a female judge. The Scottish Government had committed abuses of process in the initial investigation. It had failed to live up to its duty of candour in court with an indefensible case so at this point you might expect some contrition.
Instead, the Scottish Government has now set its sights on impeding the committee tasked with investigating the whole affair. The members of the Holyrood inquiry are valiantly struggling to do their job. Or at least some of them are. But time and again they have been frustrated. The inquiry has had to cope with evasiveness from the Scottish Government and the constant threat of legal action by the Crown Office – the Scottish equivalent of our Crown Prosecution Service.
First, the Crown Office intervened by barring the publication of the evidence of Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff. This evidence is critical in determining whether Nicola Sturgeon breached the Ministerial Code. It is clearly in the public interest to see this evidence. However they aren’t allowed to publish it so I have a suggestion for the committee.
I have it on good authority that there exists from the 6th February 2018 an exchange of messages between civil servants Judith McKinnon and Barbara Alison, suggesting the First Minister’s Chief of Staff is interfering in the complaints process against Alex Salmond. The Investigating Officer complained ‘Liz interference v bad’ – I assume that means very bad.
If true, this suggests the Chief of Staff had knowledge of the Salmond case in February, not in April, as she has claimed on oath. The First Minister also tied herself to that April date in both Parliamentary and Legal statements. She was of course aware earlier than that: the question is just how aware and how much earlier.
Second, the Crown Office intervened to see that the evidence of the former First Minister was redacted, supposedly to protect the identity of the complainants – the point the Honourable gentleman made, quite properly, earlier. Again, this redacted evidence focused on whether or not the First Minister breached the Ministerial code.
The Spectator magazine had already published online his entire evidence with only a single paragraph redaction. But when The Spectator went to court to secure the publication of that evidence, the Crown Office made no objection whatsoever to the paragraphs it bullied the Holyrood inquiry to redact.
This leaves an absurd situation where the inquiry cannot speak about evidence that is freely available to anyone with an internet connection. The redactions are clearly therefore not designed to protect the complainants. They are designed to protect the First Minister from accountability to the inquiry.
Third, the Scottish Government withheld the damning legal advice given in the civil case. It was only with the threat of a no confidence vote in the Deputy First Minister that the committee could see part – and I emphasise part – of that advice.
However, what we do know is that across November and December 2018 there were a series of meetings where it was decided to persist with the judicial review. This was against clear advice from Counsel. Rather extraordinarily these meetings appear to have been largely un-minuted – I rather recommend that they ask for the junior counsel’s notes of course but unminuted.
It was only at the last possible minute that the Government conceded the case and only after Counsel had threatened to resign. The First Minister has told the Committee, and I quote, ‘I am not aware that they threatened to resign’. But she will have seen a report that clearly states Counsel ‘in light of their professional duties and their view of the case…will require to withdraw from acting on 3 January’.
Fourth, the Scottish Government has repeatedly denied the Committee relevant evidence for what it claims to be legal reasons. This position is nonsensical. There should of course be protections over sensitive material exposed in criminal trials, we agree that. But those protections should not prevent a Parliamentary committee from doing its job of holding Government to account.
Together these form a litany of acts that repeatedly frustrated the Committee and denied the public full transparency and accountability. They fit squarely into a pattern of evasiveness and abuse of process the Scottish Government has woven from the start.
As I said in opening, the proper place for these matters to be determined is Holyrood. It would be eminently preferable for Scottish MSPs to be exposing any relevant evidence. But given the British Government’s failure in 1998 to give sufficient power to the Scottish Parliament, and given the Scottish Parliament derives its authority from this House, certain evidence must now enter the public domain here.
The Holyrood inquiry has exposed some critical failings at the heart of the Scottish Government. They failed with the complaints process, they failed to heed legal advice, and they failed to honour commitments made to ensure a transparent parliamentary review. Perhaps more worryingly, the inquiry has revealed the limits of what the Scottish Parliament can expose. There is a deficit of power and with it comes a deficit in accountability.
At very least I ask the Minister today to consider an amendment to the 1998 Act to deliver separation of powers to Scotland, something I believe Madam Deputy Speaker a previous justice minister, the Honourable Member for East Lothian, has written to our justice committee about already. So to deliver separation of powers to Scotland, to strengthen the civil service, to reinforce the powers of the Scottish Parliament, and correcting the fundamental power imbalance between the executive and the legislature in Scotland.
Let us give the Scottish Parliament the power to do the job.”
Not before time . Its a shame that you have to rely on a Tory to get to the truth .
Murrell McCann Lloyd Riddock and Wolfeare all gone.
Swinney and Sturgeon on a seriously shoogly peg
I’m guessing there are journos far from Sturgeon’s Court in Embra that see this as the chance to make their name. That could start a ball rolling that could be a wrecking ball. Watch this space.
Yep, accountability in Scotland is completely lacking. Therefore dishonesty can and obviously does run rife. This state of affairs must change for there to be any public trust of all Scottish politicians.
Well done Mr Davis , these people deserve to be exposed. Independence is worthless if it means bowing the knee to criminals.
Bring back two people who have the real interests of the Scottish people at heart Alex Salmond and Jim Sillars.
Aye – that proposed VONC in Sturgeon ain’t looking so stupid now is it?
It was fun to see the fatso fae Midlothian pathetically try to derail Davis with his whine about court orders.
Watching DD calling for more powers for Holyrood. I’m choking on my dinner. Maybe some good will come from this sordid affair after all. I won’t be holding my breath mind you
Never felt this amount of warmth for a Tory. Won’t last mind.
Who’s the big grizzly bear who makes an intervention at 03:45?
“Who’s the big grizzly bear who makes an intervention at 03:45?”
SNP MP Owen Thompson.
Never did I ever think a dyed in the wool Tory would be the savour of justice and integrity in Scotland.
Fuck me we live in strange times.
“…Black coat, white shoes, black hat, Cadillac…”
OMG that was unbelievable. Excellent.
Was Davis Davis notbAlex Salmond’s first guest on the Alex Salmond Show broadcast on Russia Today?
“Let justice be done though the heavens fall”
Always.
These are serious criminal allegations. No iffs. No buts. Somebody could be doing serious time here..
I imagine the courts will want Tokyo’s who denied them requested communications for illegal purposes.
7.35 – Edinburgh South West is Joanna Cherry, I think? – pointing out that suborning witnesses is bad idea must be one of the reasons she got the boot.
I’m feeling sick with relief. Never thought I’d say “Thank you David Davis.”
Oh my!
Gripping viewing!!
How ironic if Joana Cherry is instrumental in blowing open this mess at Westminster as Humza Yousaf in Holyrood and Anne McL, Blackford and co look on aghast.
Joanna*
Unless the civil servant who removed the e-mail from the cache of documents destined for the Court of Session is hauled in on a contempt charge, then the procedure for recovery of documents under court warrant is brought into utter disrepute.
Wow! Perhaps Scotland should not be independent. It seems that it needs to oversight and correction of Westminster!
That slimey owen thomson SNP midlothian mp. and careerist sturgeon bootlicker crappongbit that his pals would be exposed.
Thomson is a spineless individual who is more interested in the gravy train than independence.
Know him and deselect him as he and his ilk are preventing independence rather than enabling it.
Please scrutinise him and his partner for their political activities.
We see you thomson!
Bingo. For the first time the real issues at the heart of this are being addressed. And it took a Tory MP in the Commons to do it.
This is totally nuclear and it sounds like Davis won’t be deflected by the sort of crap that passes as a response in Scotland.
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tune’s a fuckin belter….
Thought a grenade would be thrown but never a cluster bomb.
Totally fucking shocking !
I see something on twitter about David Davis and come to Wings to find the whole thing and here we are…
Davis has always been a class act.
He even resigned his seat and recontested it on a point of principle in 2008.
He and Salmond are cut from the same, very rare, incorruptible cloth.
Davis could have milked it and promoted removal of powers, but he put forward valid points clearly and distinctly
He was impressive
I take it Thompson is one of the Sturg’s people
Oh well, we knew it would happen – nothing to do with strengthening the Scottish Parliament, all to do with blowing the SNP Government to smithereens within weeks of an election
How many of you on here said it was all too quiet in the media (who were sweetened with £3m) and when was it all going to go horribly wrong ? That there was a window when certain people could resign and maybe go with some dignity and damage limitation ?
I think that window of opportunity might just have slammed shut on quite a few sticky fingers
Well done Mr Davis. I hope people now apologise to Alex Salmond, Craig Murray and Stu for doubting them. I also think Craig Murray should apologise for saying all tories are bastards. Mr Davis’ contribution tonight may help Craig’s defence in his Contempt of Court case.
Wee question, now David Davis has made some text messages public does that mean that they can be admitted into the Scottish Parliament enquiry? Or is Fabiani’s mob going to pretend that he and the spectator don’t exist?
Enjoyed this immensely. Altho it is a bit rich when he goes on about the Committee being able to hold the gov to account. I remember his behaviour at the Brexit committees. But hey…
Surely Nicola and Swinney must resign or face a vote of No Confidence! I wonder if D Ross new about this forthcoming exposure when he stated his intention to bring a No Confidence motion.
Thanks for publishing this, Stuart!
Yep, Bugger, I believe Mr Davis is a good friend of Alex Salmond.
David Davis gave a very good summary there, everything he said ties up with what I know of the case anyway. With the additional bit about there being documentary evidence saying when Liz Lloyd knew about the complainers very early on.
What this does do, of course, is put these facts on record in parliament – as Davis points out, Holyrood doesn’t have the same powers so doesn’t have the privilege to allow MSPs to just read out the facts. This was damning, and now a matter of public record.
Well played. I have often wondered why Alex was pals with Mr Davis (so poor was his brexit performance), but he does have excellent presentation skills in parliament it seems.
Oh and that fat hunt Blackford not in place oh dear how sad eh
Screaming and howling of not true not true from the lurkers from WGD
Are you lot still in fkn Denial , haven’t you seen enough yet are you still fkn stupid
HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU NEED ?
David Davis has always come across as a man of integrity imo.
That was a good watch, and very well said. It’s quite something that now the Scottish Parliament is unable to discuss discussions about Scotland in the UK Parliament.
As for David Davis; I still default to Dead Ringers’ “Brexit Bulldog” caricature of him.
Yet another twist then!
The question must be will Westminster amend the 1998 Scotland Act to, as David Davis says, all minister to do the job.
‘He and Salmond are cut from the same, very rare, incorruptible cloth.’ Couldn’t agree more.
That is a real parliament and not the fandango of clapping seals we have here.
Fingered the real crooks – Murrell, Wolffe, Evans and Sturgeon.
Now it’s been aired in the HoC it can be printed in any newspaper.
The question must be will Westminster amend the 1998 Scotland Act to, as David Davis says, allow minister to do the job.
BuggerlePanda says:
16 March, 2021 at 8:34 pm
Was Davis Davis notbAlex Salmond’s first guest on the Alex Salmond Show broadcast on Russia Today?
Reply
Was he not also on the Alex Salmond Fringe show?
David Davies acting like a proper Parliamentarian. The Mickey Mouse Parliament in Holyrood needs to be disbanded. Proper Parliamentarians hold the executive to account. Scotland has a long road to travel before it can govern itself.
Wow
I rest my case m’lud.
Scottish Government should now quietly resign.
Is this the root of the Team Player jibe? I wonder how far this will go?
Was JC voicing doubts about the separation of powers, process and legality and had to be moved aside?
Anyone upset about Westminster having to intervene tonight should have been shouting for Holyrood to have all the power that it needed rather than shrugging its shoulders and saying their hands were tied.
Wow –
Can Fabiani whitewash this
Can they stop a Vonc in Nicola
All that and a Tory advocating for more power for Scotland
Wow
Sturgeon has to go now! No more excuses no more prevarication.
Wonder if Salmond was the whistleblower.
As of tonight this has to go beyond politics, it’s a police matter. David Davis as highlighted a catalogue of criminality between numerous individuals with the sole purpose of ‘stitching up’ a Scottish citizen. This is the type of thing you’d expect in 3rd world dictatorships. Sturgeon has run the SNP into the ground. The party is bust.
Alan @8.50pm it is precisely because of this that we desperately need an independent parliament. This has nothing to do with our ability to govern ourselves but purely with the limited powers of a pretendy parliament imposed by a foreign regime.
@Ruby – Yes, when we went to see the Alex Salmond Show at the Fringe, David Davis was the guest. When his name was announced, there was a sharp intake of breath from the audience. AS said: He’s a friend of mine.
They both use Parliamentary processes to effect guerrilla victories over the Executive at Westminster by forming an Awkward Squad with some other backbench MPs.
Once again, we realise what we all lost when Salmond lost his seat.
I’ve not been that excited since 1987, it seems wee nic has been humped by everyone today, except her ino obviously. Its getting hot.
Notice how Davis suggested that it would be appropriate for the police to investigate since the Parliament is unable to.
That’s what we need. Not the Scottish police, though, we know how every institution in Scotland has been corrupted so far…
Let’s take a leaf out of Murrell’s book and contact the MET, ask them to investigate.
I suppose it shouldn’t be altogether a surprise that it’s David Davis who spills the beans. Alex has always admired him as a defender of civil liberties and, as mentioned above, he’s appeared on Alex’s RT show, so reviled by the pearl clutchers.
But, bravo, anyway, Mr Davis. About time too.
Extraordinary, that’s all I can say. Oh, & Wow!
i just don’t know the specific parliamentary context in which David Davis spoke. Could anyone enlighten me? I listened to it all and agreed with every word of his succinct summary.
How could it be that I believe David Davis, and not our government.
Wow. Both Sturgeon and Murrell accused of lying under oath.
On Sue Riddicks phone, evidence of “collusion and perjury up to criminal conspiracy” the Investigating Officer!!!
“Meddling in an ongoing police investigation is at best improper, at worst criminal”.
On Sturgeon to the Fabiani Inquiry (under oath) regarding ScotGovs chances of winning the case “a significant mischaracterisation of the advice”.
On the Fabiani Inquiry (paraphrasing) ‘at least some of them are trying to do their jobs properly’.
An outstanding summation of the whole sordid affair. Well done Mr Davis.
This is a political nuclear bomb. They cannot survive this. And the interjection by that wee SNP laddie, which seems to work up here, was slapped down by the adults in no uncertain terms.
Its taking a tory MP at Westminster to show the #istandwithnicola brigade wtf is going on.
Ooft!
14m30 was the first FUCK ME moment for me.
Can the witch stonewall it? Put nothing past her.
In any normal country Nicola Sturgeon would be addressing the country tomorrow and tendering her resignation. She won’t. The lying psychopathic wee besom will rant something about TOARIES and blame everyone else.
Contrast her to David Davis, a child of a single mother who grew up on a housing estate, served in the territorial SAS in order to pay his way through education, a successful business career working his way to the top of Tate and Lyall before entering politics, a civil liberties campaigner who resigned his seat on a point of principle to fight a by election on that issue and an anti torture campaigner. Tory or not you can see why he is good friends with Alex Salmond. Now that’s he’s thrown the hat in the ring to stand up for his friend I can’t see him backing down until this is over and Nicola Sturgeon’s career and the rest of her life is in tatters. I believe there is more to come and there will now be a criminal investigation into Sturgeon and her corrupt ruling cabal. Sturgeon, Murrell, Lloyd, Evans and quite a few others will not sleep well tonight.
It’s often the case with bullies that they carry on the way they do until a bigger beast comes along and puts them in their place, well it looks like David Davis is the big beast who is going to finish the bully Nicola Sturgeon.
Bbc Scotland on channel 9 discussing it now .
Governments come and go but the Civil Service supposedly endures and in its present form where the Scottish lot are joined by an umbilical cord to Westminster, will they let one of their own take the fall for NS?
I don’t think so.
I’m gonna need to buy in some popcorn for the morn!
To think it took a Tory in Westminster to use their parliamentary priviledge to put this on public record, wow, at least it can be used by the inquiry now!
I doot there will be some pillows being thrown around in Bute Hoose the night!
When we’re independent, I vote that we make David Davies an honorary Scots citizen and award him our highest civilian honour.
I hope some of the conspirators have ample time to reflect on their wrongdoing from behind bars.
You know something Thomson?……. and I know your reading this.. You couldn’t place Alex Salmond’s boots!!!
Because of him and so many like him, you benefited from the hard work he and they did before you!
You reaped from a field ploughed by others!!
We see you indeed!!
Has WGD changed his name to “The 3 Monkeys” yet?
Don’t want to see anything on it
Don’t want to speak about it
Don’t want to hear about it
Frank 9.01pm, I believe he spoke during the adjournment debate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjournment_debate
So, David Davis is saying that he will use the powers he has as a Westminster MP to release information that no one in Scotland is allowed to release!
Are we beginning to see why the ‘Comfy Crew’ doesn’t want to rock the boat?
They are flipping untouchable!
The Fabiani Inquiry will look like even more of a whitewash if they don’t now get Salmonds evidence via the Scotland Act, the question is will they care?
Can’t believe it has got to the stage that a Westminster Tory is playing the role of the protector of natural justice in Scotland FFS!
Surely there is now no way Wolfe, Harvie, Mackinnon, Lloyd, Murrel, McCann, Roddick, Richards, Allison (and quite possibly Sturgeon herself) aren’t looking forward to an interview under caution in the very near future (unless the Crown Agent still has a valid ‘licence to commit crimes with impunity’ from his previous employment.
At last!..Just made my week. Thank you David Davis. And thank you Stuart Campbell for keeping us political anoraks as informed as possible so these revelations didn’t come as so much of a shock to us as they will to the Sturgeon loyal who still (let us remember) still control the snp and much of the scottish media.
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”. Orwell
Interesting. Also: On BBC ‘Scotland’ at 10pm tonight (16th March 2021) is a ‘News & Factual’ programme titled ‘The War Next Door: Scotland & The Troubles’, with the description ‘There is concern that The Troubles could spill over into Scotland’.
I don’t have a crystal ball. Just a different perspective. We’re being psychologically softened-up by ‘inevitability narrative’…
‘This is why BBC Question Time [14th Jan’21] continued with the ongoing British State propaganda campaign, not only to downplay the fact that domestically, ‘Global Britain’ is being deliberately driven towards becoming a failed State, but to spin Scotland as a basket-case too in order to “manufacture consent” (Chomsky) that ‘justifies’ a British military presence – a military occupation – on the streets of yet another neighbouring Celt nation’. #GaslightingGilligan, 16th January 2021
‘Tory Brexit: Angling for the Occupation of Scotland’ (2021) https://wp.me/p94Aj4-2eG
” I’m for truth no matter who tells it.
I’m for justice no matter who it is for or against…”
Malcolm X
zeb. 9.05
Thanks for that
Oh and forgot to say top tune Stu!
Oh and Owen Thomson’s interjection… I’ve had the “pleasure” of being in his company and if what people say about him do his wife is correct he’d be better off keeping his head down,
Davis was always a constitutionalist and a man of principle. Much more so than many of the schemers on the other benches, especially the well padded grifters we send down there. He was perhaps too kind to most of the Holyrood ‘inquiry”. For anyone who needs to share the story this is dynamite. We will have stranger bedfellows in our struggle to expose the rotten state of Holyrood. To the Sturgeon devotees who bleat about using unionist forces, we say, he exposes the absence of real constitutional protections which your gang have exploited.
FM’s response states that “every message” involving SNP staff has been seen by the committee. Is that correct? I thought Alex claims to have additional Murrell messages.
@ BTP
Yes David Davies was guest on Alex show. They were good friends across the chamber at WM.
But, but, but!
The Tories lie all the time and break ministerial code.
Westminster is trying to ruin independence
Alex Salmond might have won his case but, it doesn’t mean he’s innocent.
Eyes on the prize, we can sort it out after Indy
StuAnon is a unionist member of MI5
(Just trying to predict what the comments will be on the Facebook post)
Alex Salmond and David Davis, both cut from the same cloth but with differing views. You can clearly see what is lacking, not just in Scottish Politics. Fuckwits on a gravy train shafting all who get in their way.
I think this will push things to a proper conclusion.
What a pity it took a Tory.
No disrespect to Mr Davis of course, indeed well said sir very well said you have made some friends up here not many Tories do that.
I would open a bottle of something and partake of a celebratory snifter but I am under the supervision of my daughter and it’s not the weekend.
Quite simply brilliant work. THAT is how you raise an issue before the Commons – all killer, no filler.
Well, just to show that the Kool aid is still being necked in industrial quantities, checkout Wishart’s twitter feed-deluded does not even begin to cover it.
Dave Davis performs well …when he remembers his papers. Never thought I’d say well done to a tory ….but well done.
If the committee turn in a whitewash now. Then they will be forever branded worthless liars.
Finally to all our spineless and cowardly SNP MPs – I hope you are all thoroughly ashamed,
Wolfe, murrell, evans ,lloyd, ruddick and anyone else involved must be facing criminal charges.
The fundamental issue persists –
I believe Ms Sturgeon will not readily accept the resignation, or sack any woman in connection with this whole affair. She believes firmly the root cause was a man’s bad behaviour and she wont countenance a woman taking any kind of blame or punishment.
I have no doubt the extension to Ms Evans contract was no more than a two fingered salute to Salmond.
*That* can be the only explanation why there have not been sackings/resignations so far for this catastrophuck.
Mr Davies intervention in Westminster – I dont think – will change a thing. Sadly.
I hope to be proven wrong.
I think it’s Sturgeon and Murrell gone – and if it isn’t then I don’t want…
A big motivator here, above the search for justice, is perhaps to allow his unionist chums in Holyrood to really put the boot in, it just happens to be the right thing to do.
I can’t imagine this being suggested if the sides of the political parties were reversed.
Above all that though it clearly brings up weaknesses at the core of Holyrood, these holes might be patched if Westminster gives the okay but even then what others are waiting to be abused and require begging to Westminster to fix?
Just another thing to add to the pile of reasons for Scotland to be independent and have a real government which the people of Scotland have the power to hold to account and change if need be.
I take my hat off to you Stuart Poirot Campbell. A brilliant job.
The truth will out and the Dream will never die.
David Davies has always had a certain air of the rebel about him and he has been a good friend to Scotland, the truth and the Salmonds tonight.
I think this is called ‘holding their feet to the fire’ – something Alex Salmond was very good at.
I just heard a shoogly peg falling on the floor…
Wow. IMMENSE relief verging on incredulity at times to watch that bold stance taken.. having for so long experienced disappointment worsening into frustration, horror and fury at blatant abuses..
Well done, David Davis! You have earned my respect. Plaudits.
Roll on justice.
Stop trying to make a name for yourself now thomsom! You LOST a 10,000 majority in 2017 for sitting on your arese expecting the midlothian public to sweep you back to power on and SNP ticket.
Then you hung around networking and brown nosing for the votes to get selected for 2019, whilst ignoring independence.
Now your on the gravy train and part of the comfy crew.. dont think your position is safe as an MP.
The people of scotland might just vote to end your career by choosing independence.
Your sense of entitlement is bigger than your waistline. Loose it. And do what the SNP are supposed to do, gain independence!
This is why you have to look at, and vote for, individuals in politics, and not just Party labels. Every Party does have politicians of real conviction, and David Davis is and always has been one of them. The fact that he is a Tory has nothing to do with it – you know authenticity when you see it. And other people of honest conviction recognise it, even from across the Party spectrum and its divisions. Alex Salmond recognised it in David Davis, and David Davis recognised it in Alex – quite simple.
Every one of us should be not just grateful but very proud of what David Davis did tonight. His point about amending the Scotland Act in order to ensure the separation of powers which is necessary for a properly functioning government and a just society is absolutely crucial for the future of Scotland. And it is exactly what Nicola Sturgeon does not want and is trying to prevent, and even make sure it can never happen. That is why we are on the verge of a totalitarian dictatorship, if only she can get away with it.
Davis spoke for every one of us this evening, and for Alex Salmond too – we should thank him profoundly.
I wonder what the so-called National will lead with tomorrow? Maybe, following BBC Scotland earlier tonight, it will bombard us with a startling main headline about hairdressers being able to open three weeks from now, on April 5!!!! Great news everybody – champagne all round!
Seriously, that was the all-important speech that really needed to be made. Watch them try to bury it! Those newspapers and outlets and journalists that attempt to do so will well and truly damn and shame themselves.
It does feel like an overhead volley into the back of the net.
And David Davis just kept on going.Liked him since his search for the truth in the Dr David Kelly suicide.
Boil lanced and the puss is oozing !!
It’ll probably take more intervention to get the rest of the evidence released.
As soon as its public…. prosecution looms for one or two of the Scoundrels.
David Davis may well have just screwed the snp and its senior cohorts. Evans, Lloyd,et al surely cannot survive this now. This may well be the ground upon whuch the Tories lay the VONC on FM, it will be very difficult for Greens to refuse to support if it is. The result of this could be very damaging fir the SNP at the May election and provide Johnson with his get out if jail card fir denying democratic choice of the people for another referendum.
Davis says there’s more, but that he’d be there all day if he was to share it all!
Looks like we are entering the Drip, Drip, stage of this whole matter.
Nicola Gets asked questions at FMQ’s and denies knowing something or other.
A few days later the information is released at Westminster.
She is being roasted slowly, and the people doing it are enjoying every minute!
I never thought I would see an English conservative MP having to protect Scotland from its own government from the floor of the House of Commons. His key point is absolutely right. The 1998 Act that created Holyrood was never strong enough, partly, I suspect, because Tony Blair never took the parliament seriously.
The spectator has published the full text of David Davis statement in the Adjourment Debate, it’s not available on hansard as of yet.
https://archive.ph/F563u
Squeaky bum time for the pergurers! Like I mentioned before… your cloak of anonymity is See Through!!
Bob Johnston says:
You mentioned the B word, he is really hated in Columbia where he has a secret office in the Parliment buildings….his day will come. Oooops!
Yes! at f*cking last, some headway.
Sturgeon – yer tea’s oot.
We owe David Davies our gratitude.
Factual and sober account with supportive recommendations.
Are the SNP prepared to sell their soul to keep Sturgeon?
More to come, stu?
Late addition to SNP Election Manifesto…
We will immediately upgrade all Scottish prisons to provide 5 star accommodation.
Stu & others, Hansard of the Adjournment Debate is up now if you want to grab a copy:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-03-16/debates/03E5E1D7-13F3-4AB3-85F2-214EA9179324/ScotlandAct1998ScottishCivilService
Davis is not my cup of tea but has always been a bit of a maverick.
I believe he is a friend of Alex Salmond’s, in I think 2017 I went to Alex’s show at the Fringe where Davis was one of his guests, it was in a venue on George Street.
What a time to be alive, eh?
Please don’t go making this a woman-man thing, McHaggis, because it probably wasn’t. It will probably turn out to have been political from start to finish. Independence, I think, is the reason that Alec Salmond was not welcome back, even in a minor role. I have lost count of the number of times that women were used to get rid of a man who was a threat. Let’s just wait to hear the result of the inquiries. Eventually, it will all come out, and it probably won’t be about a string of harridans trying to bring down a good man, but something much more complex and political.
Boom! Well done David Davis. I was at the Fringe show at the Assembly Rooms and there was good-natured jousting between Eck and Davis. It was clear then that they have a huge amount of warmth and mutual respect, despite their political differences.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-40918376
This is really getting Watergatey…the corrupt actors in this drama must realise this story is never going to go away now. Unless they want all their political messaging in the upcoming election overshadowed by the drip drip of scandal, they should all be falling on a collective sword tout suite.
“Let justice be done though the Evans fall”!
First point to note, Scotland hasn’t been “transfixed” ….
Mc says:
16 March, 2021 at 8:57 pm
Wonder if Salmond was the whistleblower.
I’ve just been chatting with a BBC mate about this; they wouldn’t be surprised if he were.
Wonderful, wonderful news at long last!
After Mr davis’s statement
“A spokesman for First Minister Ms Sturgeon said in a statement: “As with Mr Salmond’s previous claims and cherry picking of messages, the reality is very different to the picture being presented.
“Every message involving SNP staff has been seen by the committee previously. Their views have been widely reported as dismissive of them.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/david-davis-nicola-sturgeon-snp-alex-salmond-commons-b924533.html
“The redactions are clearly therefore not designed to protect the complainants, they are designed to protect the first minister from accountability to the inquiry”..
David Davis.
Let’s see you get out of that one, Sturgeon, you fucking bampot.
Now, can we all pressure those Twitter idiots by NOT trying to convince them that Sturgeon’s far from ‘Immaculate‘ – as is now becoming fairly bloody obvious – but with the dangers her recklessness is bringing to Scotland’s Parliament? As Mr Salmond stated so eloquently, it’s not the institutions that have failed, it’s the leadership.
Drip, drip, drip, they are taking Sturgeon down.
Can’t see any mention on the BBC or Guardian sites.
Lorna – I don’t diagree with you.
This was political from the start.
That doesn’t really undermine any part of my post though. It compliments it.
Please post this. Don’t delete it
And to everyone who may read it
I’m disturbed about a few things this is true
But
What disturbs me most is that Stuart Campbell, someone that I thought that I admired, now is very comfortable quoting unionist MPs unionist MSPs, unionist Media sources and has not really written many articles on the meat and veg’ of INDEPENDENCE !
He’s not the same man that used to write exceptional articles calling out the British state, unionists lies and more…
Can I ask the question Stuart…. When the next referendum on independence comes will you even campaign for and support a yes vote?
If not, then every reader here should reassess their support for you !
Just a big thank you to Wings. Without this site, where would we be?
“The redactions are clearly therefore not there to protect the complainants, they are designed to protect the First Minister from accountability to the enquiry” And that my friends is the core of this matter.
Good to see 1 or 2 names getting mentioned that have been able to llurk in the shadows but are up to their necks in this
Frank Gillougley says:
16 March, 2021 at 9:01 pm
i just don’t know the specific parliamentary context in which David Davis spoke. Could anyone enlighten me? I listened to it all and agreed with every word of his succinct summary.
This was today’s Adjournment Debate. It’s a 30 minute session at the end of the day’s proceedings which provides an opportunity for a backbencher to raise a topic and get a response from the relevant Minister. The motion is “that the House do now adjourn”. There is no vote at the end of the debate.
akenaton says:
16 March, 2021 at 8:25 pm
Well done Mr Davis , these people deserve to be exposed. Independence is worthless if it means bowing the knee to criminals.
Bring back two people who have the real interests of the Scottish people at heart Alex Salmond and Jim Sillars.
I suspect Akenaton, that Sturgeon is only getting away with this to the extent that she is and for the length of time that she has because it serves establishment (in Scotland that is always British) interests.
I think it has already been proved beyond any serious doubt Sturgeon and Swinney are not pursuing Independence in any way and are therefor not independence supporters in any real sense. In short it isn;t a reflection of what Scotland would be like under Independence.
THat said there is work to be done. I would not belt Scotland with a stick simply because some corrupt indidviduals have taken control of the SNP. I can’t discount the SNP as a vehicle for Independence simply because we do not have an alternative at the moment.
Sticking with an amoral and corrupt British state because despise the SNP leadership isn’t an option for me in anyway or at any time.
And ‘Shocked’ filled in the missing word for me – bullies. That’s a huge part of what’s going on here.
Kenneth McDougall
Got to be MI6 with that pathetic attempt.
@Kenneth McDougall
You’re an idiot of truly galactic proportions. Stu should not only delete your post but ban you forthwith. If it weren’t for Stu and a few others none of this corruption would have come to light. This is not the place, and certainly not the time, for hard of thinking Sturgeonites and conspiracy theorists to infect this place.
Absolutely stunned.
Is someone going to report this to the Police?
Numerous breaches of criminal telling porkies under oath.
Hope that helicopter is standing by and access is cleared to the roof of Bute House!
Just think if Ruddock had cleared her messages from her phone , they would have got away with it.
Cosy feet Pete is claiming that the tories aka Davis is using the Salmond affair as a pretext for a full blown assault on our institutions!
Derek @ 9.32
I imagine that the legal brain and hand of Joanna Cherry may have written the script that forensically describes the legal aberrations and fraudulent practices which have been perpetrated in the Scottish Gov.’s attempt to ‘frame’ AS.
Alex knows the procedures of the WM Parliament better than almost anyone. Davis is a long-standing and faithful friend and Joanna is also a stickler for the truth so it would be relatively easy for the trio to play their ‘trump’ card tonight.
And, of course, these allegations are now recorded in Hansard for all time.
WOW!
Lenny, I think the network has them stored. I don’t believe deleting your phone messages means they have vanished. That would be too easy for crims
Well, its out there, and he did a good job, but I’m now so disgruntled by the whole issue of things not working the way they are meant to, that what screamed out at me, was the fact he was talking to an empty house.
The House of Commons has always been about Theatre… so, the fact that there were no braying tory donkeys, shouting for scalps is also revealing.
Fair old chance the media will ignore it on mass, as per normal.
Hope I’m wrong.
I’m fortunate that Swinney is in my constituency – so there is no need for me to debate ‘holding my nose’ to vote for him. I will be voting tactically to get him sacked, and voting for ISP or AFI on the list.
And if its possible I would be looking to have the corrupt bastard jailed along with his boss.
Never thought I’d see the day when I wasn’t voting SNP, when I actually had something good to say about a Tory MP, an when I could accurately describe the leadership of the SNP as utter, utter, corrupt SCUM. Beyond angry.
Kenneth McDougall says:
You have missed the whole point here, the Scottish people want the whole truth and nothing but the truth to improve and move forward, we have been failed by our own people! Stuart Campbell has been calling out the British State and more importantly the failures and corruption in Holywood which have basically shafting us for decades to come. This is the only place people from all parties come to find out the truth and unbiased opinion as the MSM and, in particular, the BBC are corrupt lazy bastards.
Cancell your BBC licence fee now, remember the peodo’s with a good life style thanks to their Cabal.
Lenny Hartley says:
16 March, 2021 at 9:47 pm
…
Cosy feet Pete is claiming that the tories aka Davis is using the Salmond affair as a pretext for a full blown assault on our institutions!
Except the opposite is true, he was argueing for MORE powers for the Scottish Parliament to be able to hold the Scottish Government to account.
It’s amazing that Weet Pishfart doesn’t have the slightest clue about anything and would sooner spout scare stories than tell the truth.
Kenneth McDougall : There is only one major person who has never fully supported independence. And we all know who she is.
Will you, Kenneth, reassess your stupidly loyal belief in Nicola Sturgeon ? She has had at least six mandates and she has not used any of them .
We can surely agree that she has not advanced the independence cause by one iota.
fk me they are still denying anything is wrong and Princess Nicola has nothing to do with anything .
I know nothing
it wasnt me
even Sargent Schultz was more believable
I know nothing
Here is the full transcript from Hansard
https://archive.is/rnM1o
Back to my proper name now, apologies if it was confusing (or worse, indicated a yoon troll!!!)
Wow, just Wow!! Just when I was beginning to think that the whitewash was getting its’ second coat!!
Thanks Stu for having the tenacity to keep revealing the truth allowing us real independence supporters the opportunity to understand the truth.
As for DD, it doesn’t matter what his political colours are, he stands for the truth, integrity and accountability of ALL parliaments (If he didn’t, I’m sure Alex would not have befriended him!!)
As a man of integrity, thank you DD for raising this in WM, and all done very cleverly by calling it a requirement to fix the powers that should have been granted in 1998.
I hope the dam has now burst and team newSNP are hopefully being swept away in the flood……….
@Ben Madigan
Interesting quote.
If the First Minister can claim that the Committee has already seen ALL the messages from SNP staff then that proves there must have been a conspiracy. How would anyone in the FM’s office have any idea what ALL those messages were?
It’s like Sturgeon asserting that claims of a conspiracy are a ‘heap of nonsense’. She can claim she doesn’t know about a conspiracy but the fact that she over-reaches and claims there is no conspiracy – when the very point of a conspiracy is that those not involved don’t know about it – is telling I think.
You either standby the truth or you don’t. The bookies should suspend betting on Nicola Sturgeon surviving as FM beyond this week. It is long overdue. Clear Prima Facie evidence under WM Parliamentary Privilege. Police Scotland. You must act now. Our Parliament has been shamed as well. The Grand reset is coming. At this rate I might be voting SNP after all but a huge clear out is needed.
deerhill says:
16 March, 2021 at 9:46 pm
Hope that helicopter is standing by and access is cleared to the roof of Bute House!
The fall of Siagon all over again, watch for smoke fom Bute House roof, although, the CIA didn’t manage to burn everything in Siagon.
NS is going down.
Wonder how Sturgeon supporters within the SNP are going to react to a Tory calling for more powers for the Scottish Parliament in Westminster. But those powers will open up the corruption of their leader.
Let’s see how many of them will say yes and put their country and desire for Indy first. Or who will say no?
SNP is going into this election severely damaged, possibly without a leader and Chief Exec. If they do hang on, its just going to damage the SNP EVEN further.
This could have stopped months ago by people resigning. They don’t give a shit about Scotland, about our Parliament, Independence, they’ve turned us into a laughing stock, needing ‘big brother’ to sort out our issues.
Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t failed us in not making progress towards Independence.
She’s stopped Independence dead in its tracks with all this. Dithering No voters are not going to vote for Independence now.
David Davies is a prize cunt. Fuck him.
It doesn’t need that prick to confirm what has happened.
Nearly there
Just one more push
Just round the corner
Within touching distance
A vote for us is a vote for ? well we are going to ask
Pretty Please
Oh go on
Go on
Ok the money is resting in a seperate account ,
honest ! .
Jesus Christ, the SNP have such a colossal mess of their tenure that they have made David Davis, of all people, say something that is absolutely correct – the lack of separation of powers and the compromised civil service. The SNP, Sturgeon in particular, have disgraced Holyrood and Scottish institutions so much that it takes Westminster to expose the scandal and call for reform of this collusion and evasion of justice and accountability. A real leader, acting in the interests of Scotland, would have made good governance an absolute priority and welcomed scrutiny and transparency. They have made fools of themselves and Scotland, and are now being exposed for doing so. It pains me that it takes Westminster to call them to account and not the Scottish institutions which should have been robust and independent enough to do so. Yes, independent – a concept apparently foreign to the SNP, whose supposed raison d’etre, is that very idea.
Daisy Walker
The thing is Daisy. Not sure with how exactly WM works on statements like this, time allowed etc during daily proceedings and such.
I would imagine the SNP benches would have intervened with countless points of order ,dribble interventions and we would not have got the consistency and consise presentation that David Davis had given in this adjournment debate.
The impact would have been lost in a SNP display of pure obstruction again..
Does anyone know if the library at Cornton Vale accepts donations from the public?
And before anyone starts, I have a short message to those of a less public spirited and more sceptical nature…not all female prisoners are obsessed with mobile phones and the cheaper sort of mass media, many are known to have advanced reading skills and not a few actually love reading books…
And tonight’s topic on WGD is ?
well it aint fkn this one , just like Alex Salmonds presentation to the whitewash they KNOW NOTHING
Wakey Wakey
@Kenneth McDougall
If you are only interested in exposing lies from the opposition and care nothing for lies spoken in your name as an independence supporter, then this is not the site for you.
DD is the conduit. If his claims can be backed up by documentary evidence then it makes no odds that he is a Tory. His motives can be questioned, his sincerity doubted but if his words and the facts can be verified they need to be heard.
A Tory, in Westminster in 2021, wants to … wait for it …strengthen the Scottish Parliament. That’s the guise they commence with before proceeding to suggest that the current SNP leadership should be buried …
… and everyone on here is applauding that?
They think it’s all over…..it is now.
lp says:
16 March, 2021 at 9:56 pm
David Davies is a prize cunt. Fuck him.
It doesn’t need that prick to confirm what has happened.
Is that you, Nicola?
Some of the names mentioned were involved in the change of rule that prevented Jo Cherry from running in Edinburgh.
Perhaps that decision should now be reviewed, given the ‘comfortable’ nature of misdirection and deceit that appears to be part of the ongoing process and mindset of the current leadership.
What’s clear in all this is, imho, is that NS is a political lightweight, and there are others in the party, if needed, that would not only successfully replace her, but would cast a immediate and profound light on her inadequacies.
@ Ayrshire Bob – you make a fair point, and DD presented the evidence very well.
I was struck by the fact that he had no ‘back up’ on his own side, cheering him on.
That there was only one SNP MP present did not surprise me, rather suspect the ones down in London will have had their orders not to attend. So much easier to say thereafter, ‘what was that, I’m sorry I know nothing’.
He was only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.
David Davis may have the best of intentions, but I fear that Boris Johnson and his chums will use his plea to strengthen Holyrood to in fact weaken it.
From Twitter – discussing journalists!
“Didn’t Wings? Imagine that, if he won a Pulizer type prize, Pete Wishart would probably have a heart attack”
https://twitter.com/historywoman/status/1371945818685591554
lp says:
No but he said it, not anyone in the SNP! The curret SNP ar rotten to the core. Not one of them has broken ranks so far and Fabiani is so far up Sturgeon he is her tongue.
Davis is one of the Tories whom I generally don’t mind, while not agreeing with their politics.
I can’t say I heard a single word that I disagreed with in that speech.
spectator transcript for those unable to watch
https://archive.is/F563u
and here’s the herald take!!
https://archive.is/ErEme
As resignations have to be tendered to the First Minister and Mrs. Murrell so happens to be that First Minister, then how is she going to tender her resignation to herself?
Like I’ve said before, sadly for Scotland, she’s bulletproof and going nowhere.
This fucking key board, should have an “e” in are and an “S” in she….. or is the lager.
When does the fat lady – sorry Nancy Clench – sing?
Mr Davis thank you for your time a effort on our behalf, I do believe you and Salmond are cut from the same cloth and I look forward to you being welcomed to visit an independent Scotland any time you wish.
Stu as usual many thanks for your boundless efforts, indebted we are.
To the rest, why oh why do we have to be waiting for Westminster to confirm what we have all known for some time (all be it not to the extent! Jez! If we are ever going to truly be independent we need to have ways to ensure this kind of stupidity is kept in check.
Somehow!!
Kenneth Mac Dougall @ 9.38
Kenneth, were you involved in the 2014 referendum?
Did you traipse the streets rallying support for the cause?
Did you experience that absolutely gutted feeling for several days afterwards of total shock and disbelief that we had lost?
Did you stand shoulder to shoulder beside Alex Salmond day after day as he toured the entire country of Scotland rallying the Scottish people to vote for their freedom?
Did you see the sadness in his eyes when we lost?
Did you ever doubt HIS commitment to the cause of Scotland’s Independence?
If the answer to any of these questions is NO, then I can perhaps understand where you are coming from BUT even if the answer to all of the above is YES please can you answer me this…
Why has Alex Salmond’s name name been erased from the History of the SNP? Why? I think that says something unusual about the current leadership if they have erased the name of the man who led the party for over 20 years and was First Minister of Scotland for 7 years until 2014.
(I was going to give you the link to the SNP website so you could see for yourself but they have revamped it and doesn’t even mention the First Indy ref now, nor Alex Salmond, in fact the History of the SNP only begins in 2015, which is odd because I’ve supported them since 1972).
Do not doubt Stuart Campbell
Where’s the “Vote SNP” cheerleaders tonight?
Sturgeon has all her boys and girls with mini brains locked up in bed behind blocked twitters. It is so so bathetic
Mist001 says:
Resignations! this has gone far beyond resignation. Treason deserves a long drop and a short stop.
SilverDarling says:
If you (…) care nothing for lies spoken in your name as an independence supporter, then this is not the site for you.
Let me get this right; you’re looking to find a group of politicians, or a specific party, who can achieve something as monumental as constitutional change, and you a.think you’ll find some politicians who are not liars, and b. are not interested in having them achieve constitutional change if they are liars.
Good luck with that.
Could someone please list the names of every single malevolent, vindictive, useless, incompetent cunt involved in this unrelenting and disgusting slaughtering of the good name of Scotland, so I can copy and paste it into a text file for reference on the day I go to vote on May 6th.
It will also assist when I explain to my immediate and not so immediate family just how far into the cesspit of political shite the SNP have snorkled themselves into.
Thankyou.
If only there were SNP MSPs with the integrity of David Davis then we would not be in this mess.
We elect them to parliament to represent us. If there is a VONC how many of the MSPs will stand up for truth and decency?
On a lighter note my international sources have recently drawn attention to an upcoming job opportunity…apparently the UN General Assembly are about to advertise for a new janny…if any Wings reader knows of anyone who might like to work at the UN in the near future, watch this space.
Attention to detail is the number one desirable attribute of the successful candidate and all gaps in CVs must be explained…
Sturgeon won’t go until she is handcuffed. She just doesn’t know how to walk away with a shade of dignity left.
Remember when McConnell locked himself in Bute House after Salmond handed him his jotters. Sturgeon will be swallowing the keys to Bute House.
He’s a Tory brexiteer and I hate everything he stands for, but he didn’t say anything that isn’t true. I only wish a Scottish SNP mp had had the courage to speak the truth as he has. This is further proof of the damage the Holyrood government is doing to the cause of Independence.
@Kenneth McDougall
If we get independence, where’s his income going to come from? Who’s going to follow this site and chuck money into his crowdfunders apart from a bunch of maniacal conspiracy loving dingbats who’ll lap up everything he comes out with? You have to admit, he’s doing a good job with that at least.
So, the Holyrood committee, exactly what new evidence has DD disclosed tonight that they will be able to use?
Much of it was already in the public domain.
Much of it is already with the Inquiry – but put out of bounds.
Apart from highlighting how pathetic and powerless the Inquiry is/has been – in what way has tonight’s disclosure provided some power to their elbows?
I’m not being flipant. Genuinely interested if anyone can see them.
Likewise, if the msm do not run with this as a major story (and I don’t think they will), in what way does it shift the dial any for the Indy movement.
Truth is truth never mind from whose mouth it comes and Davis did Scotland’s cause a favour today. Sturgeon has shit in the nest. Our nest. Begone!!!
I tell thee, I’m pure shockeroonied there wiznae a leak tae the Daily Record tae gie them a heids up this story was gonnae break this evening.
Phil would you trust Sturgeon with your mop and bucket!
How are they going to keep pretending that it’s all a big Wings conspiracy now? Lol. Is Youtube banned for SNP supporters now?
Daisy @9.50pm
“…Fair old chance the media will ignore it on mass, as per normal.”
It’s already on the Scotsman, Herald, Guardian, Independent express, Sky and Daily Record websites.
Suggests the press may have been alerted to the debate as it was tucked in, normally unnoticed at the end of a day’s business. Good tactics.
Which Scottish newspaper will do its job of ‘holding power to account’ now? Or will they pretend nothing has happened, once again, thus confirming the suspicion that Scotland has no robust institutions for a functioning democracy?
Daisy- I don’t think there is any unknown evidence. It’s more to do with it being delivered far and wide now. So the media can’t just ignore it.
Cudneycareless says:
VONC- probably the same eejit’s will vote as per the other VONC’s in the hope that the Gravy train will still have a seat for them. The names should all go on a list for the day of reconing.
That it takes a Tory to shine the light of truth on this!!!! Fact is indeed stranger than fiction!! Good on David Davis!!!
@Alan Thorns
The Mickey Mouse Parliament in Holyrood needs to be disbanded. Proper Parliamentarians hold the executive to account. Scotland has a long road to travel before it can govern itself.
You can bugger right off with that garbage. All that is required is more power to the Scottish Parliament to allow it to hold Government, from whatever party, to account properly. Also, Parliamentary privilege wouldn’t go amiss, along with the enforced separation of powers. Scotland is perfectly capable of self-governance and anyone saying otherwise is clearly not a friend of independence.
Dan says:
16 March, 2021 at 9:31 pm
Late addition to SNP Election Manifesto…
We will immediately upgrade all Scottish prisons to provide 5 star accommodation.
Brilliant Dan, I am still laughing away.
NS et al will just brazen it out and hope to win the election.
Even if a VONC is raised, the Greens have already demonstrated that they’ve sold their soul for government support of their election manifesto, so the SNP / Greens will win any vote.
With their green lapdogs, the SNP have absolute power in Scotland.
And we all know the quote re power and corruption.
Can’t believe the stuff I’m seeing tonight on Twitter.
Scottish Government and SNP leadership publicly accused of meddling in police investigations, missing emails, colluding, soborning witnesses, lying under oath, all backed up by facts and witnesses.
Sturgeon supporters: Don’t believe it. It was said by those nasty Tories. Those bastards.
Do you think we WANT to see this happening? To see our dreams of Independence go up in smoke? Do you think this is enjoyable for us? Getting so fecking angry.
Well, a gale has just blown through the Tammany Hall dustbowl of Scottish politics and it came from Westminster. The Scottish establishment has received a shaking from the very place it looks to for validation. I hope that they are ashamed and embarrassed.
Shameful that Scottish politics had to be rescued from the mire by a Westminster MP. But credit to David Davis, he was speaking on our behalf, the newly disenfranchised SNP voters of Scotland. I am grateful that it happened. He cleverly made it clear that he did not wish to weaken the Scottish parliament but to strengthen it. What are the Sturgeon sheep going to bleat? ” We don’t want more powers.”
I believe that David Davis meant this honestly but it remains to be seen how Boris might play this. However, it should be clear that Sturgeon and Co., are the ones who opened the door for him, not David Davis.
Once the truth is out, it doesn’t matter who delivered it, it has a life of its own.
Sturgeon won’t sleep well tonight.
(Hopefully not at all and we will see bigger bags under the eyes tomorrow)
Surely the info had to go to Davis from Salmond himself ?
We know they are friends, if it had been anyone from within the
Scot Gov why would they chose Davis ? Why would anyone other than Salmond make that particular contact ?
Molesworth says:
16 March, 2021 at 9:55 pm
NS is going down.
Ooo-er Matron
McHaggis, I take your point. Just as I have never been sure that Nicola Sturgeon supported independence, I have never been sure that she supports women either. Some women, perhaps. Women, in general. Don’t really think so. I think the whole SNPG is like a colander, full of holes where the entryists have gained access, and, even if this stuff brings down the FM and her coterie, every one of them will have to be rooted out, put out to pasture or moved sideways out of the parliament. The most important things after this has been sorted out, and the truth known, will be economic recovery from the pandemic and, above all, independence. After that, a proper, legal constitution drawn up by proper experts, not amateurs, is a priority, along with real separation of powers instead of this hand-baked effort that we have now.
Don , yes I think it may have been the man himself. He also knows how to use the tools of Westminster to get messages out
I was hoping all along that it would be an SNP parliamentarian, be it in Holyrood or Westminster that would speak up and speak out on this shocking affair, but you know, im kinda glad its took a senior well known and very experienced British figurehead like David Davis to finally speak out. As his impact has the potential to be far bigger and more wide reaching and for many more to sit up and take notice and bring it to a wider more mainstream audience just what has and is still going on. There should be no hiding place for any of them and they should be made to pay a political price for what they have done. No friend of the Tories but beggars can’t be choosers. Fair do’s.
I am overjoyed for Alex Salmond tonight. It’s good to see he’s got a friend in David Davis on the opposition benches. Its testament to Alex Salmond’s political genius. He actually interviewed David Davis at the fringe festival where they spoke of their respect for each other.
Please god, let this be the beginning of Justice for Alex. My heart is with him tonight.
I believe the people of Scotland are sovereign, so should be able to hold our government, head of state and parliament to account.
We need a parliament, Govt and public authorities that can be held accountable to the sovereign people.
Instead, we have Sturgeon’s corrupt colonial administration and Holyrood gravy train MSPs. Locally, we have unaccountable corrupt Health Boards and Councils.
The whole lot needs to be purged of corrupt officials and corrupt and incompetent politicians.
@ AberdeenPict
While you’re laughing, spare a thought for a disgruntled Shelley Jofre who’s probably busy re-editing Thursday evening’s Panorama programme.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/distinctions-and-differences/
ScotsRenewables, where are you ?
Beflox @ 10.15pm
Yes I am. Otherwise they don’t get my vote.
Honour,honesty and integrity my auld China.
Extending Parliamentary Privelage to Holyrood would be very significant; exemption from prosecution (in certain matters) is sovereign.
ABOUT F***ING TIME!
Mist001 says:
16 March, 2021 at 10:10 pm
As resignations have to be tendered to the First Minister and Mrs. Murrell so happens to be that First Minister, then how is she going to tender her resignation to herself?
Like I’ve said before, sadly for Scotland, she’s bulletproof and going nowhere.
Hopefully for a few weeks only
Honestly
FUCK ME
What has the world come to when a disgraced former high roller Tory MP who helped cover up the Westminster paedophile ring speaks the truth about our own Government
Yeah, he obviously has an agenda but he’s not wrong
Are there any Oliver Cromwellians out there who know a Guy Fawkes with a spare coupla kegs…
There’s a reset needed and it ends with KABOOM
And Sturgeon and her acolytes will carry on in denial, claiming it is all a tory plot. Her brazen disdain for truth and accountability is shocking, if not unexpected any more. But the real enablers are the spineless people in the administration, civil service and legal profession who have known what has been going and turned a blind eye or colluded in the perversion of justice. That is what is really appalling – how highly paid public servants in positions of responsibility could go along with this and the great cover up which is still going on. It is only when these unprincipled apparatchiks either resign or are booted out that the people of Scotland can start reclaiming their institutions from the wreckers, sycophants and self enriching dishonest creeps.
I hope the book is written and ready for publication in Ireland
lp says 16 March, 2021 at 9:56 pm
“David Davies is a prize cunt. Fuck him.
It doesn’t need that prick to confirm what has happened”
Well actually it did , because he said things there under “Parliamentary Privelege£ that MSP’s could not do in Holyrood without facing charges ..try and keep up.
Secondly if you were properly informed you might have understood he has a whole wad of files and papers sent to him by a “whistleblower” so he wasn’t in your words just “confirming what happened”
I don’t recall hearing before that someone had lifted an email from papers that were ready to go to the inquiry AFTER they had been already passed by the legal team, that has to now means charges or a dismissal happens soon. Theft of Documents has to be a crime surely.
@beflox
What level of lying is acceptable? Little expenses lies? Misguided biology denying lies? Massive ‘could land a man in jail lies and let’s cover it up’ lies? If Tory lying is not acceptable then neither is SNP lying.
You seem to suggest to achieve something monumental, huge lies should be acceptable? Even if that were true, there is no suggestion NS and her circle were telling lies to further the cause of independence. Far from it, to many here, they were covering their backs and lying to preserve and prolong their time in power in a devolved government. Not only that they are and have been lying about trying to achieve independence any time soon.
I don’t need luck to recognize this incarnation of the SNP leadership will not lead us anywhere soon.
So when the going gets tough the democrats get going. The Spectator, the more trenchant conservatives, the more fundamental parts of the Nationalist movement. I’m a yoon but before that I’m a democrat who understands that I’m part of the wealthiest, healthiest most peaceful generation ever because of robust democracy.
Maybe y’all can consider that when voting in May.
Fair makes me proud to be a fellow working class Tory!
Shameful though that no Scottish MP, of any party, had the guts to do this.
Seem to be in pre mod?
Finally exposed as corrupt lying criminals.
Alex Salmond proved 100% right.
Will the witch keep on insisting that Alex Salmond is guilty despite being found not guilty by a court of law?
Credit where it is due: A million thanks to Tory MP David Davis.
The SNP stooges at Westminster and in the Fabiani committee exposed – as stooges.
The corrupt lying criminals must not be let off – they must be prosecuted and sent to jail.
“Vote of No Confidence”? If the woman had any dignity, respect or even any thought for her country she would resign first thing tomorrow. I won’t hold my breath.
@MrOats says:16 March, 2021 at 10:53 pm
“FUCK ME
What has the world come to when a disgraced former high roller Tory MP who helped cover up the Westminster paedophile ring speaks the truth about our own Government
Yeah, he obviously has an agenda but he’s not wrong”
Fuck Me, which Westminster paedophile ring ?
One you invented too ?
https://news.sky.com/story/carl-beech-former-nurse-lied-about-abuse-by-murderous-westminster-paedophile-ring-11770862
“He obviously has an agenda…. ” So if your so well informed what is it ? Did you just make it up ?
Jeez , So many rockets out tonight.
Halle-bloody-llueia, at last. The truth spoken in public. The current SNP SG should be ashamed of themselves.
The MSPs, with the exceptions of a few, have shown themselves to be unfit to hold office.
This might be a great example of why it’s important to reach across the aisle and be pragmatic & mature in who you associate with in government, i.e. not be insular & childish idiots like the current SNP amateurs at Westminster.
It’s very possible that Salmond, or someone close to him, has tonight benefited immensely from a friendship with Davis that some of the more blinkered SNP fans would have avoided “because Tories”
We have won a battle this evening but let’s not celebrate until we have won the war against corruption, no quarter given, we’ll done to David Davis now it’s up to the Scottish people, they have been shown 2 road maps today, if they follow up on this evenings surely Frank will have the official car standing bye outside Bute House.
Where can you find the unread messages DD didn’t have time for?
@Kenneth McDougall says: 16 March, 2021 at 9:38 pm
“What disturbs me most is that Stuart Campbell, someone that I thought that I admired, now is very comfortable quoting unionist MPs unionist MSPs, unionist Media sources and has not really written many articles on the meat and veg’ of INDEPENDENCE!”
Dear Kenneth,
Did you have a big bowl of Stupid Flakes for breakfast this morning? Or do you normally have such a skewed sense of priorities?
Those who would give up accountability and transparancy for independence will soon find out that independence without accountability and transparancy is no independence at all.
@ L.U.T.B says:16 March, 2021 at 11:00 pm
“Fair makes me proud to be a fellow working class Tory!
Shameful though that no Scottish MP, of any party, had the guts to do this”
Well let me think , did the Whistleblower send all the files to every MP in Westminster or just to Davies ?
Think about that for two minutes and see if any bells ring.
I suggest three chins Blackford takes the day off and misses PMQs
The only thing that will save him is Bawjaws ain’t very fit and after the first 10 shots at goal he will get tired , even from the hallway line Bawjaws can’t help but score.
Fk me Princess Nicola has invited Westminster in to take control , the jocks are useless we have to protect the Scottish people from this SNP government that’s lost control , it wasn’t Stuart Campbell not Wings over Scotland this is all the property of Nicola Sturgeon and her appointed crew they own it it’s all theirs .
And people are saying one more chance aye ok
lp says:
16 March, 2021 at 9:56 pm
“David Davies is a prize cunt. Fuck him.
It doesn’t need that prick to confirm what has happened.”
But it clearly does. Threats from the prosecuters office, unwarranted redactions, withholding of information despite parliamentary votes and search warrants, government coaching of witnesses to a rigged inquiry, witholding evidence from their own defence team in a judicial review, the list goes on.
Whatever your personal opinion of Davis, he has stood up for the truth on this one.
Big Jock – I’ve been following the case and inquiry closely, but the revelation of Sturgeon’s CoS “interfering “ as early as 6 Feb 2018 with the investigation is a shocker. Nicola’s position has always been she only knew of an investigation on 2 April ( or 29 March going by differing evidence). The idea her trusted CoS was running rogue at that point is laughable.
Don – Davies clearly intended to give the impression the leaker was someone other than Salmond.
His exact words:
Alex Salmond has asserted that there has been, and I quote,
“a malicious and concerted attempt to….remove me from public life in Scotland”
by
“a range of individuals within the Scottish Government and the SNP”,
who set out to “damage” his
“reputation, even to the extent of having”
him “imprisoned.”
These are incredibly grave charges. The whistleblower clearly agrees with those charges. He or she starts their communication with the assertion that the evidence provided, and I quote,
“point to collusion, perjury, up to criminal conspiracy.”
I see that this is the big event that that Jeggit chappy was alluding to a while back. Or so he is saying.
A great achievement for so many dogged bloggers, obviously Rev Stu but also folk like Barrhead Boy, Grouse Beater, Denise Findlay, Iain Lawson etc who have hammered on about this like a dog with a bone. A ringing endorsement of “new media”.
Just read this on the BBC site
“A spokesman for First Minister Ms Sturgeon said: “As with Mr Salmond’s previous claims and cherry picking of messages, the reality is very different to the picture being presented.
“Every message involving SNP staff has been seen by the committee previously. Their views have been widely reported as dismissive of them.””
They really don’t know when to stop digging, do they?
Very good speech by Mr Davis and really caps off all your excellent articles from today Stuart. I believe David Davis is a friend of Alex Salmond and it was nice of him to support Alex in this way which so many in Scotland seem incapable of. His critique of devolution was also spot on – the failures of devolution inherent at the beginning created the monster we have now.
It matters not from where the truth comes, only that it comes. And let us hope that justice follows swiftly.
To paraphrase from the Prabandhachintamani: “There is no truth without justice.”
And of course DD’s suggestions to amend the Scotland Act to significantly increase the powers of SP to hold SG to account seem very sensible. Not at all the ideas of someone using this alleged MI5 engineered clusterfuck [seriously, the BritDeepState, if it exists, just ain’t that capable) to undo devolution.
@L.U.T.B says: 16 March, 2021 at 11:00 pm
“Shameful though that no Scottish MP, of any party, had the guts to do this.”
Which begs the question that Scotland’s Tories wanted to abuse the same powers themselves if they ever got into power – same as Labour would have done had they ended up in the same mess.
This was no “unseen error”, this was built in corruption by Blair for Dewar and their patsies up north – never in a million years thinking it would be an SNP government that would get to use it.
@Liz says:16 March, 2021 at 11:04 pm
“Halle-bloody-llueia, at last. The truth spoken in public. The current SNP SG should be ashamed of themselves.
The MSPs, with the exceptions of a few, have shown themselves to be unfit to hold office.”
You clearly missed the important part that Davies could say this in WM under “Parliamentary Privilge” but if MSP’s had did this at Holyrood they would have ended up being charged ?
Got it yet ?
Why did McAskill or Cherry not do it?
Don ?
And what would be the point in sending the information to any of the SNP MPs .
A one line answer will do
This is a home grown fk up and the English government have just gave them the rope , the SNP did the rest not only did it themselves but with fkn gusto
@Alan Thorns
“The Mickey Mouse Parliament in Holyrood needs to be disbanded. Proper Parliamentarians hold the executive to account. Scotland has a long road to travel before it can govern itself.”
No Alan Thorns.
What Scotland needs is a Parliament of an independent nation state that can be held accountable by the sovereign people of Scotland, which in turn holds to account an overbearing executive, and which is assisted in this by a civil service that owes allegiance to it’s own land and people, and is not a Trojan horse for a foreign occupying power.
@Sarissa says:16 March, 2021 at 11:08
“Don – Davies clearly intended to give the impression the leaker was someone other than Salmond.”
Of course he did , did you expect him to say “Alex Salmond has just sent a copy to me of all his files ? ”
You have to ask yourself who else would have all that depth of info and why would they send the files to Alex Salmonds mate instead of someone else ?
Shocked says,
“In any normal country Nicola Sturgeon would be addressing the country tomorrow and tendering her resignation. She won’t.”
Of course and she won’t need to – she has to be taken in handcuffs by the police, together with all her fellow criminals.
With hindsight, good thing she didn’t resign. She would have got away with it and have the plum UN job she desires.
She must go to where she belongs – jail.
Never ever thought D D could deserve brownie points, but bearing in mind that he said he was here to support Holyrood ‘not to bury it’. Seeking better devolved powers. Wow!
Government’s External Counsel: “the vulnerability arises from the procedure itself and not its implementation…”
That’s new information. If you have been paying attention, you will understand the importance.
Describing the improved mood of one of the complainers who had apparently lost confidence in what they were doing, Sue Ruddick explained in a text how the complainer was now “up for the fight and keen to see him [Salmond] go to jail…”
That is also new. For the first time we have evidence of a determined effort, not merely to undermine or marginalise Salmond, but, rather, to have Salmond put in prison.
That was a very clever speech.
He, and others knew, the attack dogs would go on about him being a Tory, that was why he mentioned increasing powers at Holyrood.
Under NS, the SG are a bunch of featherweights, DD showed gravitas, something sadly missing in Holyrood.
@Kcor says:
16 March, 2021 at 11:12 pm
“Why did McAskill or Cherry not do it?”
Because the Whistleblower did not send the files to them , they were sent to Davies.
If they had been sent to McAskill or Cherry it might have been more obvious who sent them , it might be anyway.
Secondly with McAskill or Cherry not doing it means no repercussions for them from other SNP Policitans , SNP internal wrath won’t affect Davies.
Don – drop the pattonising tone.
Mosr of the SNP MSPs have all publically backed NS, and some have coveted up for her, that’s the point
@Kenneth McDougall
Ah the site editor of the NS fanclub, we see you.
beflox says:
16 March, 2021 at 10:05 pm
A Tory, in Westminster in 2021, wants to … wait for it …strengthen the Scottish Parliament. That’s the guise they commence with before proceeding to suggest that the current SNP leadership should be buried …
… and everyone on here is applauding that?
Simple answer to your stupid question… YES.
AS ONE PREVIOUS POSTER SAID HERE…….WHAT IS INDEPENDENCE , IF WE ARE GAGGED AND FORCED TO ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE.
The best part:
“When the Inquiry put these messages to Mr Murrell, he said that they were ‘quite out of character’. That is no defence, even were it true. But having seen evidence of other messages, it seems to me they were all too much in character for Mr Murrell.”
Finally the bastard exposed for what he is and has always been.
Take him in handcuffs for embezzling £600,000 of independence supporters’ donations.
How much was that Women for Independence woman got for?
Not a lot out in Twitterland that I can see bar a few “pish” and “Pah..Davis was useless at Brexit” style barbs.
Rev..can you explain how this will impact matters.. i dont see the Committee even acknowledging the claims at this point.. will there be more and more to come perhaps under privilege?
Aberdeins evidence per chance?
Will we suddenly see all SNPs turn up at every session to shout down?
I thought only some physical evidence leak could scupper the good shop Nicola.. could this be forthcoming?
Don says,
“Secondly with McAskill or Cherry not doing it means no repercussions for them from other SNP Policitans , SNP internal wrath won’t affect Davies.”
IMHO, they should have put clear water between themselves and the corrupt criminal SNP leadership and their stooges in both parliaments and in the NEC.
Owen Thompson needs to get down to the Jubilee Café and get himself a nice big slice of shut the f**k up.
@Mark Boyle
So, you insult someone with this;
“Dear Kenneth,
Did you have a big bowl of Stupid Flakes for breakfast this morning?”
… and then follow it up with this absolute belter;
“Those who would give up accountability and transparancy for independence will soon find out that independence without accountability and transparancy is no independence at all.”
… which is without doubt the stupidest (but funniest) thing written in this entire comment section!! Well done!! (Oh and it’s spelled transparency by the way …)
Dan says:
16 March, 2021 at 10:48 pm
@ AberdeenPict
While you’re laughing, spare a thought for a disgruntled Shelley Jofre who’s probably busy re-editing Thursday evening’s Panorama programme.
Yeah, that’s going to take a fair bit of editing. As Orange Juice once sang ‘Rip it up and start again’ :-).
rob says:
WHAT IS INDEPENDENCE , IF WE ARE GAGGED AND FORCED TO ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE.
It’s called remaining part of the United Kingdom permanently. Is that acceptable to you?
(Also, at least I managed to put a question mark at the end of my “stupid question”, idiot.)
Thanks to our current SG, independance has been set back at least 5 years. Too much incompetence, reputational damage and financial miss managment to magic away by just voting yes. Knock the house down and rebuild it better. The rot is down to the foundations now.
All assuming this has not played in to the Boris boy’s hands.
Furthermore, I thought DD was admirably restrained in making many references to Mr Murrell and The First Minister without at any point using the N-word. No, not that one, the Scottish one. FFS, in how many other places would the head of government be married to the Chief Exec of the ruling party? I can’t think of any but I’m happy to hear of other instances. I bet none of them will be good.
@Kenneth McDougall (9:38pm)
You are either Mrs Murrell in disguise or an epic fool. Or both.
Wings has explained in detail many, many times now – even in words you could understand – that the odious Nicola Sturgeon is the biggest impediment by far to Scottish independence.
There can be no independence campaign or referendum until she’s removed from office. And ideally in jail where she belongs. All legitimate and non-violent means to get rid of this vile harpy are to be encouraged. One of those efforts will eventually succeed. Even if some of that help has to come from an ultra-unionist Brexiteer Tory MP. Any port in a storm…
A wholesale restructuring of the SNP is now essential to advance the cause of independence. That painful porocess can’t begin until Mrs Murrell, the Sturgeonistas and the wokerati are removed from the party. They’re the problem. As are the deluded idiots who imagine these oxygen thieves are the answer.
You should also realise Kenneth that it’s perfectly possible to be an independence supporter without either voting for the SNP or supporting Mrs. Murrell. These are three very different and sometimes mutually exclusive things. For instance, supporting Nicola Sturgeon almost certainly means you don’t want an independence referendum because she’s got no intention of ever delivering one. Unless there’s a leadership change, voting SNP in May will have the same outcome: no IndyRef2 in the next Holyrood parliament.
Hatuey 11.22pm the ‘vulnerability’ statement is in counsel’s advice of 26/9/2018, para 6:
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/correspondence/2021/02/legal-advice-related-to-the-parliamentary-inquiry-into-the-scottish-governments-handling-of-harassment-complaints-sghhc/documents/26-september-2018/26-september-2018/govscot%3Adocument/OCT-%2BLA19%2B-%2BLPP%2B-%2B5%2B-%2BFINAL%2B-%2BCommittee%2Bcopy.pdf
Mark Boyle says:
16 March, 2021 at 11:12 pm
@L.U.T.B says: 16 March, 2021 at 11:00 pm
“Shameful though that no Scottish MP, of any party, had the guts to do this.”
Which begs the question that Scotland’s Tories wanted to abuse the same powers themselves if they ever got into power – same as Labour would have done had they ended up in the same mess.
This was no “unseen error”, this was built in corruption by Blair for Dewar and their patsies up north – never in a million years thinking it would be an SNP government that would get to use it.
Yess, well in 1998 there were exactly Fuck All Scottish Tories left in WM to game this issue. So I think you need an alternative conspiracy theory. If the tin hat doesn’t fit then get another one,
Take the carrot of independence off the table and what are you left with ?
I know this version of the SNP won’t deliver Indyref2
So what’s the fkn attraction
Good colonial administration ?
Fk scratch the surface and you might get a shock.
Beflox 11.41pm
No it’s not acceptable to us.This is not a unionist website lad.Go fuck yourself ok?
Well well well, still not going to vote for English branch office clowns in my parliament.
Independence
Onwards and upwards.
??
An a’ it needed was a big whirl o’ a spirtle.
Bet no one up here saw that one coming. He’s just run over the bus with a frigging tank.
Very tragic tale but I cannot share the obvious glee on here as it will set independence well back, if at all.
beflox says:
16 March, 2021 at 10:05 pm
A Tory, in Westminster in 2021, wants to … wait for it …strengthen the Scottish Parliament. That’s the guise they commence with before proceeding to suggest that the current SNP leadership should be buried …
Too fucking right. And it’s a crying shame it has had to come to that.
If Scotland’s institutions had honest, principled leadership – no sniggering at the back! – this scandal would never have happened. First, there would have been no conspiracy. Next, nobody would have tampered with the evidence or intervened in the police investigation. Nobody would have withheld evidence or obstructed the parliamentary inquiry. Nobody would have been threatened with imprisonment for trying to get to the truth – or reporting it – including the parliamentary inquiry itself. That sort of thing can be found in a banana republic. It shouldn’t ever happen in Scotland. Finally, and most damning of all, there would have been no cover up.
AYRSHIRE ROB Says
No it’s not acceptable to us.This is not a unionist website lad.Go fuck yourself ok?
Firstly, I’m not a “lad”. Secondly, thanks for the second demonstration of how much of a knuckle dragging idiot you are.
JSF. Never expected to be thanking David Davis of all people for standing up to this shite.
Amateurs.
I enjoyed that, fair cheered up a downer of a day.
Footsoldier says:
17 March, 2021 at 12:17 am
Very tragic tale but I cannot share the obvious glee on here as it will set independence well back, if at all.
It’s sad how so many people simply do not trust the people of Scotland and think folk need someone like Sturgeon to follow before they dare step into a world of freedom
David Davis appeared with Alex Salmond on the
Fringe Show Alex Salmond..Unleashed in August 2017.
They were clearly friends but with a healthy difference of opinion on policy. They were two people who shared a belief in good government and a belief in that governments must be open to scrutiny.
He made a good choice in the person lighting the blue touch paper.
It reminded me of Sir David Robertson exposing the Thurso Police for their blatant assaults and bullying.
Footsoldier says:
Very tragic tale but I cannot share the obvious glee on here as it will set independence well back, if at all.
Yep … When it comes to independence, there is no good outcome from this story. All this talk of ousting Sturgeon and resetting the SNP, it’s an ignorant fantasy that is being fueled for reasons that have nothing to do with intelligent independence debate. Everything that has been achieved in the last fifteen years is about to be toppled, and for some reason people on here seem to think it’s something to celebrate.
Just hope we can rid ourselves of Sturgeon and her helpers before the election so I can vote for the SNP with great releaf, but I don’t know if this speech will be enough in time to change anything. If Sturgeon had any class at all she would step down for the good of Scotland who she claims to love.
My job of campaigning for a Labour majority in the Sturgeon Constituency of Glasgow Southside gets easier by the hour.
We’ll get shot of here, one way or another.
beflox says:
16 March, 2021 at 11:41 pm
rob says:
WHAT IS INDEPENDENCE , IF WE ARE GAGGED AND FORCED TO ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE.
It’s called remaining part of the United Kingdom permanently. Is that acceptable to you?
(Also, at least I managed to put a question mark at the end of my “stupid question”, idiot
So here we have an utter fool like yourself advocating you prefer to live under a corrupt SNP Government , who can control the justice system, attack private citizens, attempt to jail them, remove women’s rights, prevent free speech and obstruct progress towards independence …. and you think that’s OK. A tory MP has to speak up and give evidence tonight and shame the SNP, showing them up for the useless shower of scum they are… and I think that’s the part you can’t accept. You are out on a limb pal, you will get no support on this site , so crawl back to your WGD and take your pathetic Nicla adoration with you.
Tomorrow’s Opposition Day in the Commons should be interesting spectator sport with Pee Wishfart summing up on Scottish Independence right in the middle of this complete Murrellista car crash….
We are now through the looking glass on Twitter.
What was a minority accused of ‘bizarre conspiracy’ (and I include myself there as an accuser), has now truned full circle.
The wilful denial of facts is now utterly crazy. Its now in strong circulation that all of this fiasco is down to MI5. Its just *so* obvious… apart from of course to everyone in power in the SNP, none of whom have even hinted UK security forces are at the root of all this.
Twitter is a fucking bin-fire of denial and ‘whataboutery’ tonight with a side helping of ‘you’re a tory’ accusations…
What a fucking mess.
rob says:
So here we have an utter fool like yourself advocating you prefer to live under a corrupt SNP Government , who can control the justice system, attack private citizens, attempt to jail them, remove women’s rights, prevent free speech and obstruct progress towards independence …. and you think that’s OK.
Didn’t say that once, moron.
rob says: A tory MP has to speak up and give evidence tonight and shame the SNP, showing them up for the useless shower of scum they are… and I think that’s the part you can’t accept. You are out on a limb pal, you will get no support on this site , so crawl back to your WGD and take your pathetic Nicla adoration with you.
Not looking from support from this site, and I don’t adore “Nicla” either.
Anything else you want to add to make yourself look like even more of an idiot?
Agree with his politics or not, Davis has a track record of acting on principle and with integrity.
Always listen to what he says, even if you think he’s wrong.
.
Please see the bigger picture.
This has all been “gamed out” by the British Establishment.
Right now it is a matter of timing leading up to 6th May 2021.
Cast your mind back to IndyRef1. Alex Salmond recognised YES had peaked four days too early and we only got 45%. That was a matter of timing too, had we peaked 4 days later, we would be an Independent country by now.
I don’t think Alec has twigged this yet and yes I know David Davis and Alec have a lot of mutual respect and could be fairly described as friends.
David Davis just gave the trigger speech which will lead up to Peter Murrell, Evans, Wollfe and Sturgeon being called into police stations under caution.
By the time chief constable Ian Livingston gets his ample ‘erse into gear. We will be in the middle of April. The invitation to the Four Horses of the Necropolis (named above) will be served on them In the third week of April. Thereby giving the British Media free reign to KILL the SNP in the Daily Record, Daily Mail Daily Express and BBC Scotchland (and with only two weeks left, there will be no time for the Stueto counter that attc
THAT is when Joe and Senga McPublic will wake up to the “Politics For Dummies” manual of this political abortionn.
The minute Murrell, Sturgeon, Wolffe and Twisted Evans are DETAINED or ARRESTED, is when the TIMING that triggers the majority of ordinary Scots into having the epiphany that Sturgeon IS a lying, scheming fake FM and needs booting out of office.
The will be perfect timing to allow a ConDem or LabLib Scottish Executive in.
Boris has said in private he wants the SNP killed off by any means possible.
David Davis is absolutely right in what he just did. He should be given a medal. At long last Alex Salmond is getting.
I am not the keenest, but am prepared to endure 4 to 5 years of a Tory or Labour coalition governeing Scotland as a price worth paying to get rid of the Sturgeonite McWokeists and that bad musician and terrible writer, bloody hands Wishart the Woman Hater etc al.
This will be bigger than the MP Expenses scandal. Just as Westminster saw a lot of MPs and Lords jailed, so too will several high ranking politicians and Scottish Clown Office crooks go to jail.
.
APOLOGIES FOR TYPOS IN LAST POST.
BREEKS WAS RIGHT.
STUART PLEASE CAN YOU INSTALL AN “EDIT” BUTTON FROM THE WORDPRESS THEM YOU ARE USING. BIG BIG THANKS.
I think it’s fair to say that Al-Stuart speaks for everyone in this comment section, and most definitely has a way with words that has been sadly lacking until he or she (or they) posted that particular masterpiece.
And once again we find: it’s not polls that drive politics, it’s events, always has been and always will be.
beflox says:
17 March, 2021 at 12:37 am
rob says:
So here we have an utter fool like yourself advocating you prefer to live under a corrupt SNP Government , who can control the justice system, attack private citizens, attempt to jail them, remove women’s rights, prevent free speech and obstruct progress towards independence …. and you think that’s OK.
Didn’t say that once, moron.
rob says: A tory MP has to speak up and give evidence tonight and shame the SNP, showing them up for the useless shower of scum they are… and I think that’s the part you can’t accept. You are out on a limb pal, you will get no support on this site , so crawl back to your WGD and take your pathetic Nicla adoration with you.
Not looking from support from this site, and I don’t adore “Nicla” either.
Anything else you want to add to make yourself look like even more of an idiot?
Yes… if I’m an idiot , then you are an imbecile. You’re infantile retorts are an indication of your lack of substance. No one has agreed with any of your mutterings.. in short you are irrelevant .. so do like I told you , crawl back to WGD… There’s a good Boy!
Beflox 1237am
Now that’s enough from you for the night. Take your horlicks and go to bed.
You lost.Try the 1st fav at Cheltenham tomorrow.
BOOOOOOOOM….that was dynamite…hee hee
There’s not many tories I like. But I have a great respect for DD. He is a true politician, and speaks sense. I remember a tory party full of folk like him once upon a time.
I am not a Nicola supporter but I am a pragmatist and if Nicola falls so does independence. Play the Perfidious Albion way. Keep her until May is past then do what you must.
If the unionists regain control of Holyrood, it will be neutered for all time.
Al-Stuart says,
“I am not the keenest, but am prepared to endure 4 to 5 years of a Tory or Labour coalition governeing Scotland as a price worth paying to get rid of the Sturgeonite McWokeists and that bad musician and terrible writer, bloody hands Wishart the Woman Hater etc al.”
Independence is dead for the next five years anyway if the corrupt SNP criminals are re-elected.
If they are defeated and out of the way, a new genuinely pro independence party can arise and make the next Westminster election a plebiscite on independence.
Just as a Tory MP has done us a service which none of the SNP stooges could, an unionist coalition will do us a service which the SNP couldn’t.
If Sturgeon hasn’t been charged by the police, tactically vote for Sarwar to get her out.
If Sturgeon et al hang on and don’t resign, it gives the BritNat govt the excuse to do to us what they did to Stormont, and close down Holyrood.
And don’t think they won’t do it. They used royal powers to dismiss a democratically elected govt in Australia in the 1970s, and that wasn’t even over corruption.
First of all I would like to thank you Stu for your and Alex Salmond’s determination and dedication in TRYING to expose the rank corruption and lies permeating through the SG
I am filled with incandescent rage that it has taken a person from a neighbouring country to highlight and expose publicly and freely what has been going on within the SG and our justice system , not only that it has enabled representatives of that country to mock and denigrate our governmental and judicial system with impunity, irrespective that that same neighbouring country has been swamped with their own scandals
It is fitting however that that representative has used the powerlessness of the SG and HR to highlight its inability to fight for the truth when the corrupt individual who has created this monster has done everything in her power to swear fealty to the WM sovereignty claim
Having watched David Davies revealing in excoriating detail the despicable actions our SG has been mired in I am filled with utter and total revulsion at the cowardice of the HR parliamentarians in allowing this continued destruction and denigration of what Scots perceive to be our parliament
“it gives the BritNat govt the excuse to do to us what they did to Stormont, and close down Holyrood”.
The british government did not close down Stormont. Sinn Fein did.They withdrew, refused to nominate a new leader and Stormont couldn’t function without them.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/09/martin-mcguinness-to-resign-as-northern-ireland-deputy-first-minister
Having said that I agree Holyrood is in danger of being shut down by this Conservative administration in Westminster.
And it risks not being resuscitated.
Remember Stormont had to be revived because of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
@BLMac says:
17 March, 2021 at 1:27 am
“If Sturgeon et al hang on and don’t resign, it gives the BritNat govt the excuse to do to us what they did to Stormont, and close down Holyrood.”
They won’t do it. Why give ammunition to your opponent when they are wounded?
@Footsoldier.
How you can anyone still believe that Sturgeon has any intention of pursuing independence? The SNP leadership has been playing everyone for fools. Why would these talentless arseholes give up the gravy train now? Do you really think they want to actually work when they can just whinge about the Tories and get paid for doing nothing?
zebedee says:
17 March, 2021 at 12:03 am
Hatuey 11.22pm the ‘vulnerability’ statement is in counsel’s advice of 26/9/2018, para 6:
Thanks zebedee, but I think you are incorrect.
It’s possible I am looking in the wrong place. Or it’s possible you are assuming “procedural unfairness” implies that the procedure itself was unfair.
But in the paragraph 6 I am looking at, the discussion is squarely on how the procedure was implemented, which is old hat; “this is a lengthy ground of challenge attacking various aspects of the investigation process…” (para 6)
In my comment at 11.22, I made the point that Davis revealed for the first time (to my knowledge) that Counsel was concerned that there were vulnerabilities with the procedure itself rather than how it was implemented; “Government’s External Counsel: “the vulnerability arises from the procedure itself and not its implementation…””
I can find nothing in the document you link to that indicates that doubt coming from the Government side, although on the petitioner’s side it has been raised repeatedly, as we knew.
You will appreciate that the Government and indeed Sturgeon’s personal position pivoted on a claim that there were no doubts about the procedure itself, and in bolstering that claim she pointed out that it was still “extant” to this day.
This is important stuff. Those of us who believe in conspiracy theories have long held the view that the Procedure was rushed together to be used as a weapon towards Salmond and have been rebutted with the claim that the Procedure was robust and a genuine attempt to fill a so-called “gap” in Civil Service employment law.
It’s another important facet of the story that is unravelling before our eyes, along with those who concocted it.
Had to read the article twice just to take in all that was said. Bravo Davis for taking up the whistleblower’s case. And for highlighting the deficiencies of the Scotland Act.
Piffly little trivial things like breaking the ministerial code are now in the rear view mirror and fading from view incredibly fast. What Davis alleged tonight (and you have to suppose he has the evidence to back it up):
Sturgeon has lied under oath.
Murrell has lied under oath.
Lloyd has lied under oath.
Ruddick has likely committed a criminal offence.
Wolfe has, by omission, lied under oath.
Thats the First Minister of Scotland, her Chief of Staff, the Chief Exec of the governing party, the Investigating Officer into serious allegations and for good measure the Lord Advocate of Scotland. All engaging in criminal behaviour according to an MP.
Oh for the days when it was maybe just the ministerial code that might have been breached!!!!
Who is standing with Nicola now? Thanks for so clearly showing who we can never trust again. Go straight to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect £200, or your ministerial salary, or your parliamentary expenses or your fatcat pension. Eegits (sic) the lot of you!!!
For all those who have followed this, the likelihood is that there is still even more to come.
This is not Wings fault. Its not Salmonds fault. Its not Davis’ fault. Its not Scotlands fault. Its not the fault of cybernats, keyboard warriors, yoons, Russia, Bill Gates or even Michelle Mone. It is the fault of Nicola Sturgeons and those closest to her who have colluded, concealed and connived.
Small point…whistle-blowers are protected in England where things are done by the book. EWhistle-blowers in Scotland are killed. Hence, there are none and this has to be done in England.
What a depressing dump this country has turned into. Look to Westminster…that’s the way it should be done.
I’ve said it before, but Scotland needs it’s own impeachment protocol to reign in, and if necessary bring down a rogue Scottish Government, not just for corruption or dishonesty, but for all unconstitutional impropriety – like selling out Scotland’s popular sovereignty.
If Scotland had such a protocol existing already, Sturgeon could have been impeached and removed from office in 2016. In 2016, Scotland could have, and should have, properly skewered Brexit. Either on Constitutional grounds with Scotland’s sovereign and democratic Remain mandate being violated, or, rendering the UK Union untenable with one UK Signatory Nation in Europe and the other outside Europe. Either way, Scotland would thus now be an Independent Nation – except for the shabby incompetence and feckless corruption of Sturgeon’s off piste, unconstitutional, do-nothing Allstars.
If Scotland had such a protocol existing already, Scotland wouldn’t need an intervention from a Westminster Tory to bang heads together and bring the whole craven mess of Scotland’s amateurish and unprofessional Government and COPFS into the daylight. How thoroughly embarrassing for Scotland. Let me be clear, it is not the intervention of Tory David Davis which appalls me, but the ‘need’ for the intervention, just to hold our rogue Scottish “Government” to account. Can you imagine the French or German Government being so roundly savaged by a Westminster backbencher?
And for those of you who despair that this has set back Scottish Independence, whether you are right remains to be seen, but why in god’s name have you been defending this witch and her coven from rigorous scrutiny these past 6 years??? Valuable time wasted and opportunity squandered, fabricating one excuse after another to ameliorate Sturgeon’s feckless incompetence, reckless Constitutional illiteracy, and strategic ineptitude? Don’t you see??? Scottish Independence was right there for the taking! In 2016 it was WON! – until Sturgeon FUCKED IT UP.
So yes, I am grateful to Mr Davis. A man whom I recall once savaging for his incompetence and lack of preparedness during Brexit, (remember his meeting with Barnier and his volumes of documents while Davis had a sheet of paper), but his Commons speech of yesterday stretched to several sheets of paper, and was infinitely better briefed and researched.
I am grateful to Mr Davis, but the answer is not an intervention from Westminster, but for Scotland to declare a Constitutional State of Emergency and take immediate action to address the absence of a Scottish Impeachment Protocol, and establish a Constitutional Standards Commission to monitor and correct Holyrood’s improprieties, set up as a precursor to a fully Independent and Constitutionally adroit Scottish Government.
I look forward to the day when Mr Salmond’s legacy and contribution to Scotland’s rehabilitation as an Independent Sovereign Nation is restored to it’s rightful historical place, and it is the weary and ignoble chapter of Sturgeon’s grubby incompetence and corruption which the Scottish Nation does it’s best to airbrush from our history.
I’ve quipped before that Scotland’s “Bastille Day” might be the joyful celebration of Independence when lots of Scotland’s corrupt ruling elite were thrown into prison.
Can I just say a heartfelt thanks to the RT Hon for Member for Haltemprice and Bowden.
He has brought into the light that which was being kept dark.
He has a record of absolute integrity and principle and we owe him a duty of gratitude.
Murrell and Sturgeon lying to parliament, lying under oath. The corruption of government and state
Criminal prosecution now looms this has now moved to another level altogether as the dam bursts.
Absolutely fucking nuked.
And not even from orbit.
David Davis really is too honourable a man for that party. Wonderful intervention
Magic! The wee pretendy parliament gets its arse booted by the big evil parliament. We can see how this own goal is headed.
Fuck it.
Scottish politrix from a different angle:
https://whorattledyourcage.blogspot.com/2021/02/dead-kennedys-and-video-nasties-fuck.html
.
Thankyou beflox and kcor. Apologies for the typos etc.
Rev Stuart, I just noticed something. The crowdfunders all the SNP MSP candidates have been running are limping along the bottom of the barrel.
————————-
Angus Robertson has been trying to raise £10,000 since 24th February. Exactly 3 weeks and he has a measly £3,787…
https://archive.is/wip/sQZyb
That is £180 a day for the former Westminster SNP Leader. Raised in the richest city in the country.
————————-
When Declan Blanch turned his £300 pounds into £50, You and Wings Over Scotland raised over £10,000 in 3 DAYS!
Polls are one thing, but I suspect there is a lot of truth to be gleaned from real-world fundraising support. It doesn’t look good for the McWoke high command SNP – Sturgeon’s Naughty Pariahs.
Just out of curiosity I checked a few others…
————————-
Kenny Gibson is managing just £25 a day…
https://archive.is/wip/XFRxU
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Keith Brown scraping up £49 a day in his crowdfunder…
£695 of £3,000
https://archive.is/wip/Pfg24
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Ruth Maguire is doing a wee byt better but still no setting the heater alight given this is a serious election.
https://archive.is/wip/UEfiv
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Then I got distracted by TONS of pelters the SNP McWoke candidate are getting, ever since David Davis called out the lies and the corruption, perverting the course of justice, interfering with police witnesses etc…
https://mobile.twitter.com/kirstenoswald/status/1371857298721796096
https://archive.is/PzLAw
What a horrendous mess and we still have 7 weeks of watching this car crash of what used to be an honourable SNP under the stewardship of Alex Salmond.
————————-
The point is that with £600,000 YES money missing, presumably wheached by Weavers of The Night and the rest of the SNP accounts in a helluva bourach, there is no spare money.
Farewell, Nicola Ceausescu.
Heartfelt thanks to David Davis.
I have to come to realize that having people like DD and J(ack)ie Ba(il)lie (trying to avoid moderation here) and dare I say it even Murdo Fraser (at times) has proven far more vitally important to democracy in Scotland than dozens and dozens of SNP MPs and MSPs.
I have really come to appreciate the importance this last few months of having healthy and strong opposition parties and people of integrity within them. People like JB and DD.
Apart form the bombshell contents of what DD said, he has done more to restore the reputation of the conservative party in Scotland by this act than his entire party has this last 30 years. I wonder if this will play any part in the potential for ‘tactical voting’ in May. Suddenly they are starting to look like the good guys versus the SNP. That is some going by Team Nicola.
But what is so incredibly damning, so shocking that people in the SNP should wake the fuck up, is that we are having to rely on Westminster to make the SNP and Holyrood honest.
What a fucking disgrace that is from the so called party of independence. They are clearly not fit for purpose.
Done.
The SNP isn’t finished. The COPFS isn’t finished. The Scottish Government isn’t finished. And neither is the Scottish or UK civil service.
But those leaders who drove their institutions right into criminal conspiracy… Finished.
And we have til May to recover and win Scotland the political independence it deserves.
David David. This is the day you really shine brightly in the UK Parliament.
Respect.
Oh and by the way – Sue Ruddick – you are a grade A cunt and I REALLY hope you go to jail.
ACH… Predictive text woes… You shone well David Davis…
Mac @ 6.41
I have to agree with you-I wonder how these people are able to turn up every day, rather than hiding in shame. If any of the complainers listened last night, I wonder what they thought about this –
“McCann expressed great disappointment to Ruddick that someone who had promised to deliver five complainants to him by the end of that week had come up empty, or “overreached”, as he put it”
Overreach meaning -get the better of by cunning; outwit!
First n foremost iam not an member of the snp Double D done the majotity of yous a favour tonight In my view the majority is getting tainted by people who may have told a wee lie then had too lie again to cover the first 1 n so on n so on
You know criminal acts aside, and bad behaviour by the SNP and Scotgov, this shows us one thing, and David Davis states it. It is because devolution was not done properly – because as usual London wanted to keep control.
The result? A wholly dysfunctional setup, that is wide open to abuse. A Lord advocate, weho is also a member of the government – wholly against any concept of governmental legal accountability.
To my mind this shows that what is ACTUALLY needed is independence. This half-way house of devolution, but still ruled from England, is not only untenable, it is also dysfunctional.
Until such times as England relinquishes its vice like grip over Scotland, then these issues cannot be wholly resolved, and THAT goes to the heart of all of this.
This is EXACTLY the kind of problem which happened in England’s colonies all over the world. It is the kind of thing which made folk sick to the point of not merely ASKING, but DEMANDING and end to London rule.
It is a disgrace what was done to Mr. Salmond, that it was seemingly done with collusion and interference by the SNP administration itself, means that not only Leslie Evans needs to go, but so too, Peter Mureell, and, importantly, Sue Ruddick. As for Nicola Sturgeon? Does she have a moral compass?
What was done to Alex Salmond was wicked beyond compare.
But, the point remains, Scotland can never properly move forward, or truly deal with such issues, until such time as it is independent, free of English interference in our affairs.
It really could not be clearer, Scotland needs independence. It has needed independence for at least the last three hundred years. The time for England hanging on to Scotland, like a petulant child aggressivley seizing ITS toy, is over. Scotland needs to re-assert itself as a wholly independent nation.
English colonial rule of Scotland via Westminster is dysfunctional and ALWAYS has been. It must come to an end. The sooner, the better.
Since this all confirms perjury, Nicola will have to stick to her story. She knew nothing about what her chief of staff spent all February doing, or if she did then she forgot it all, cos her heid wis spinnin.
The Scottish establishment can be counted on to absolve her of all responsibility. The Media will stay on her side.
Perhaps now independence becomes the least risky option for Murrell Inc, now that Westminster has got the goods on her.
Breeks at 0432am,
I could not have put it better myself. You are correct, NS has literally allowed London to trash our constitutional rights. These rights are not myths, or ‘merely historical whimsies’, that re intact and should be asserted by any right-thinking Scottish government. THEY STILL CAN BE. Nicola’s failure does not mean those rights cease to exist.
Your penultimate paragraph however, is a gem.
QUOTE “I look forward to the day when Mr Salmond’s legacy and contribution to Scotland’s rehabilitation as an Independent Sovereign Nation is restored to it’s rightful historical place, and it is the weary and ignoble chapter of Sturgeon’s grubby incompetence and corruption which the Scottish Nation does it’s best to airbrush from our history.”
“As for Nicola Sturgeon? Does she have a moral compass?”
This surely is the critical point now. Even if she maintains that she did not directly engage in the campaign to incriminate AS, she must have known when she went to the committee and if she did not, then she has displayed gross negligence.
The SNP have no option other than to purge the leadership a.s.a.p. and that, I think, is what most WoS readers are hoping for.
Confidence now needs to be restored in our national institutions and whilst reviews such as that conducted by Dunlop QC may be helpful in guiding system change, what is actually required is a change in organisational culture. For too long those at the top have been appointed not on the basis of competence but loyalty and this has to end.
What the whole affair has exposed is that there needs to be a constitutional review and as DD says, that MORE power is given to Holyrood to scrutinise the executive.
I fear that independence has been dealt as savage a blow as out national reputation.
There is no-one to blame but the SNP.
The greatest irony of all.
Davis had a respect for Salmond and tried help him out but the
main reason for this speech was to discredit Scotland and independence.
Remember his role in ripping Scotland out of the EU and remember his statement that
No sovereign nation should have other nations interfere in its laws and policies.
He did of course for get to say “ with the exception of Scotland as England is masterful”.
Plot Leader
Nicola Sturgeon – First Minister & Leader of SNP
Main Plotters / Willing Participants
Leslie Evans – Permanent Secretary to FM
Liz Lloyd – Chief of Staff to FM
Judith MacKinnon – Head of People Advice for SNPG
Peter Murrell – CEO of SNP and Husband to FM
Sue Ruddick – COO of the SNP
Ian McCann – Compliance Officer of SNP
Nicola Richards – Head of People for SNPG
Barbara Allison – Director of Communications for SNPG
James Wollfe – Lord Advocate & Head of COPFS
Well the main plotter list was pretty much bang on the money. There are a few I am leaving off for now but don’t worry, your time will come to shine.
When people like CM and SC said it was Nicola Sturgeons ‘inner circle’ orchestrating the stitch-up that really was a huge understatement!
For F’s sake don’t try and blame this on the Tories.
It makes us look even worse if that’s possible.
I’m loathed to admit my admiration for Davis in the way he has got the handle on this and compared to him Sturgeon looks pathetic.
Surely now the committee will have no alternative but to act against Sturgeon or they too will be accused of corruption.
Foot soldier at 1255am,
I think you are right. We MUST not let the unionists into power, that is much, much worse than NS, by many many degrees of magnitude.
Despite my anger at NS and Murrells et al., I will vote SNP.
The question that runs through my head regarding my vote, is simply this, do I seriously want to wake up in May, to find the likes of ANAS Sarwar or Douglas Ross as First Minister. My answer is no, so QED, I have no option but to vote SNP on the first vote. Make no mistake, unionist control of the scot parliament will mean independence will be off the table for at least 20 or more years. They will not relinquish power easily, once elected. Thankfully the candidate in my area is very good, works for JC and is not one of the wokie clowns – she actually, on a personal level deserves my vote. The second vote will not be SNP, however, due to list manipulation in the Lothians.
We might all be angry (I know I am), but in Scotland we need to box clever. The last thing, the very last thing Scotland needs is unionists like Douglas ross taking power by default (lab and libdems will happily jump into bed with them at the first sniff of power), because I don’t like NS. No, my mind is made up (pretty much since yesterday), I WILL vote SNP. If others want Douglas Ross as first minister by default, then that will be on their own conscience. AND, it really, really could happen.
As I remember, the first Nationalsts were all conservatives while Labour was undermining our country.
Akenaton,
The SNP was founded in 1934, and you claim to REMEMBER this? That must mean you are very, very old indeed – late eighties??.
I think the point you tried to make, is as tenuous as your claim to remember the events. Besides, the old canard ‘the SNP are tartan Tories’, is as insulting to Scots culture, as it is untrue.
If the SNP wants my vote in May, then they know what they have to do.
It is vital the SNP is left in no doubt they will lose, if they dare trust their luck to brinkmanship.
Time is very short.
Robert Louis, your levels of self-denial are astonishing. After DD’s Commons performance last night, the FM’s appearance before the Holyrood Comm has taken on the appearance of a marathon suicide note in public.
You remind me of the fist-clenching Nazi remnants in the ruins of Berlin in May 1945 still muttering that despite the Great Leaders faults the overall principles of the Reich were correct.
Notice the whistleblower took his action in England in the HoC. Try doing that in Scotland at Holyrood and the Lord Advocate will have you arrested. England is now the country of the Enlightenment for Scots. I’m sure many on these pages will reject that, but not all.
This is a disgarceful, all Scottish, breach of the law and folk need to go on trial for it.
Try being a whistle-blower in Scotland and just see what happens to you.
Wonder if MI5 are the whistle-blowers,
`deep throat` the informant that Woodward and Bernstien got their information from was FBI.
I can’t understand why the police are not yet investigating this. The allegations being made are now of criminal activities.
For so long we have heard the phrase jigsaw identification. We are told it was to protect the alphabet women.
I don’t know who they are but I am certain that knowing who they are would take everything we can see here so far (which is bad enough as it stands) and make it MUCH worse.
The missing piece of the jigsaw showing the blatant conspiracy to stitch up Salmond IS the identity of the women.
Which of course is why the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office are making such monumental sleazy tits out of themselves in front of the whole UK and International legal profession ‘absurdly’ trying to conceal their identity in every context.
I think this is now moving beyond the need for even a simple judge led inquiry it is so big.
The truth is Nicola Sturgeon as FM tried (using her flying monkeys) to stitch-up an innocent man and send him to prison to stop him rivalling her in politics. It does not get any more debased than that.
Nicola herself should be the one to go to prison and I think it would be poetic justice if that was the end result here, along with Peter of course and a few others above.
This why we need a heavy hitter inquiry with a bona fide honest judge.
L.U.T.B says:
16 March, 2021 at 11:11 pm
And of course DD’s suggestions to amend the Scotland Act to significantly increase the powers of SP to hold SG to account seem very sensible
_________
What David Davis is suggesting in WM, is what Alex Salmond already had in place when he was FM. Nicola Sturgeon changed things when she became FM.
Another thing Alex advised Nicola on was not having her husband as CO. She didn’t listen to him there neither.
Scotland needs to get Alex back into government to eradicate all the bad apples within the SNP & get decent folk back into the party & parliament.
A big ask of the big man, but I think he can do it with the total support of the independent striving Scots.
I love this man to bits. I haven’t met him, I as a Scot haven’t been in the country for 50 years.
I have researched his political career from when he was a young man entering politics & have learned he is an upstanding politician, man & human being.
If I were in Scotland I would give him a big cuddle as thanks for all he has done over many decades.
I actually feel sorry for Nicolas parents. She has brought shame to her families name. When this all comes out, her poor parents won’t beable to walk down the street without people commenting they are the parents of the woman that tried to put an innocent man in jail.
Hell she, Nicola could very well be in jail herself at that time.
What a mess eh! I remember back in 2015 thinking the ugly duckling has blossomed into a swan. I liked her back then & was prepared to donate to the SNP from overseas till you got independence.
It didn’t take me long to see independence wasn’t on the agenda.
I’m at a point now, that I think there needs to be a clear out of most MP in WM. In the Scottish government A complete clear out except Joan McAlpine.
There are far to many lesbians & trans people in the SNP government & some extremists need to be cleared out. There a few like Joanna Cherry that should remain.The chap who had a brother in the forces is one. “Sorry can’t remember his name”
The fact Nicola is a lesbian herself & her husband a transvestite, shows where the SNP are heading under their leadership.
Before long you won’t have any hetrosexual people in the SNP.
What will that do to your children’s education? Will they be indoctrinated through sexual education to think as they do?
Waken up guys! It’s already happening.
Ask your children what they’re being educated on in school re Sex. That’s from 6 years onwards.
You will be aghast at what you hear.
As parent it is your responsibility to protect your childs physical & mental well being. How well are you doing?
This is why I can’t debate this on Twatter – I’m agreeing with Yoons!! Sometimes even Historywoman… I’m still not voting for any of them but cheers Nic, for the crazy dissonance.
The National has actually “jumped the shark”.
On its front page today it doesn’t mention this- nor does it make much mention of Sturgeon’s “you can leave your house now, be grateful” order.
No, it’s lead story is… “Scottish Contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race Backs Indy”.
I support independence for my country not the foundation of a Drag Queen Republic.
The Sturgeonistas on Twitter remind me of the people who still thought we were going to win the World Cup after Peru scored their third goal. The game is up people, we have been led up the garden path by an incompetent manager that has been insulated from reality by a supine media. Stop this “onwards to Indy” stuff. We have to start again.
I should say I’m in my 70s now. When I left Scotland I was in my 20s. Harold Wilson was PM.
After watching AS’s full testimony full of admiration for a man so obviously telling the truth, followed by hours and hours of the totally disingenuous diatribe by Sturgeon and now this from DD, whatever your views on Independance surely to goodness nobody of good conscience can support such evil people that quite clearly wanted to have an innocent man jailed & his reputation trashed???
I appreciate the “rough & tumble” of politics, however this is beyond belief and therefore all these people somehow excusing these maggots for the sake of Independance shame on you!!!!
Prince Philip picked a hell of a day to hog all the front pages. And of course – as perennial as Indyref2 bills, our eternal route out of lockdown. Some small mentions, however I’m sure the flood will come. DD’s intervention is clearly motivated primarily by a sense of injustice – but also due to our need for parliamentary reform in Holyrood. I don’t smell any hatred of the SNP per se. Ours is a young parliament conceived in the wrong shape and if would not be fit for purpose as the government of a sovereign country. The separation of powers and the ability to hold the government to account without the hellish obfuscation we’ve all witnessed is democracy 101.
BBC Scotland’s Scottish news bulletin this morning: ‘A spokesperson for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed the allegations.’ So that’s it, then?
“I Stand with Nicola – in the Dock”
“Frank! Get the (jail) door!”
After last nights explosion maybe the above two quotes are close to the mark. Who will rid us from this nightmare? Is Netflix looking into securing the rights? And in a weird twist of fate can only one man save the snp? And if that’s not salvageable can only that one man save Scottish independence?
Intervention by SNP Chief Whip contempt of court?
Hearing David has sent a file to Police Scotland looking for answers.
Maybe send a file to Lloyd,Riddick Murrell and Woolfe who may need kne to saw through the bars of their cells.
How longg can they keep him off their trail? Not long I thknk. He’s not the type of guy to give up easily.
At 13.50 of DD’s speech.
“And let us be clear, this was not just a case of a government that failed to provide information because it could not manage its own filing systems.
This was a government that actively withheld important, relevant information. In one case a critically relevant email was actively removed from an information bundle that was going to the court and which had already been approved by government counsel. I don’t know who took that email out – I have it here.
I don’t know who took it out, I don’t know who gave the instruction. But in my view the removal of that document would be a summary dismissal offence, and possibly a criminal offence. At the very least it would be in contempt of court.”
———-
So let’s start right there and find out who removed that email and have them charged for it.
This shit gets ignored by the Lord Advocate and COPFS while they see imaginary crimes by Mark Hirst, Craig Murray etc…
The SNPG is rotten to the core.
NS must be pi$$ing herself laughing at this point for despite everything that has gone on before, and has been well documented both here and elsewhere, there are still those who will hold their nose and vote for her.
What does it take for such individuals to have the moral fibre to admit to themselves that Sturgeon’s SNP requires an enema and isn’t fit to govern?
If you vote for this shower of criminals you condone their behaviour and you’re as guilty as all the other invertebrates who know everything but choose to say and do nothing.
As Mark Boyle said earlier…
“Those who would give up accountability and transparency for independence will soon find out that independence without accountability and transparency is no independence at all.”
Sturgeon’s loyal enablers – bought and sold for the lie that was “IndyRef2 is in the post”.
@Kenneth macdougall 9:38pm
There are some so blind they will not see.
It doesn’t matter who presents the truth – it’s the truth
But it does matter who tells the lies.
You should try to see there can be goodness in all people, not just those of the political colour that you support.
One of the key problems currently faced by this Sturgeon administration, is total, unconstrained supplication to the Leader. Her sycophantic court (built by her and murrell of course), has not served the nation or the party well.
Look for the truth and encourages others to do the same otherwise everyone just “follows orders” and where does that ever end up.
Old fogey 9.41 yesterday
Just a thankyou for the explanatory context you gave.
Nicola Sturgeon has done more damage to SNP the Yes Movement and the cause of Independence than what the the Unionist party’s could have hoped to achieve in a lifetime and lets not fotget the Scottish legal system. Scotland best hope is for all these Independence parties to form one national Independence party and let get shot of the SNP once and for all.
Very little of what David Davis put on record last night was unknown to followers of Wings.
It was good theatre but the question is “what happens next?”
A referendum is remote and UDI is only possible if the leader is credible – so even more remote.
A few years of underground (non-violent) resistance and building up a credible independence movement , bring down the Holyrood government and claim independence.
Who can be the leader to bring that about?
“England is now the country of the Enlightenment for Scots”
May I invite you to watch the video at the top of this page again and listen particularly to the point where Mr Davis acknowledges that the reason for this ridiculous and Orwellian situation to take place is that England’s parliament and England MPs in their rush to pass the Scotland Act to put Scotland’s new parliament on a leash did not give the Parliament all the minimum power it required to act as a parliament, so they left it basically unable to hold the government to account and exposed to the bullying of the COPFS?
It is very interesting the point where Mr Davis says, that because of this failure of England’s parliament to hand to Holyrood the powers it needed to operate as a parliament, being elected in exactly the same way, MSPs do not have the same parliamentary rights than the MPs sitting in Westminster and while MPs like Davis can say what they want in Westminster, MSPs are being bullied by the COPFS into silence, threatened with prison sentences and deprived of the tools to do their work.
I also invite you to listen to the bit where Mr Davis says that they had known for centuries that the separation of powers is the correct way to do things, yet they did not do that in Scotland when they rushed to pass the Act.
If they knew that separation of powers was a requirement for parliament to be able to hold the executive to account, don’t you wonder why they didn’t deliver that separation of powers? Because I do and I actually wonder as well if they deliberately did it that way to leave a back door open for the British state to stick its fingers in parliamentary matters when, let’s say, for example incriminating evidence that may increase support for Scotland’s independence or that would reveal until what point their next puppet selected to lead the main political vehicle for Scotland’s independence might be about to be released to the public.
When you look at the whole picture, what is the thing all these people are so desperately trying to cover up and what is the evidence they are so desperately attempting to suppress?
The evidence of a conspiracy to push Salmond out of politics. THAT is what has COPFS, crown agents, Lord Advocate, Swinney, Sturgeon, the most senior civil servants in Scotland, the judges that put the interests of perjurers in front of those of the public, those SNP plants sitting in the committee and acting as nodding dogs of the COPFS and those civil servants in Whitehall that knowing what was going on, and aware that under Evans’ stewardship a criminal leak to the press of confidential information took place, extended Evans’ contract and allowed this farce to continue.
And who is the main beneficiary of Mr Salmond, the only person that so far has demonstrated the courage and the will to take Scotland to independence, being pushed out of politics and away from the main vehicle for independence that happens to have the biggest share of the seats in Holyrood and an absolute majority of Scotland’s seats in Westminster?
Who is the main beneficiary of the wheels and the engine of that main vehicle for independence being removed?
the British state.
“all Scottish, breach”
No, it is not. This has been going on for over 3 years. The judicial review was completed in January 2019. And it is only now, over 2 years later and barely 7 weeks away from an election, that the UK parliament takes notice?
You must be having a laugh.
This has been happening because the British state has let it happen. And let’s not get into the part in that video where Mr Davis acknowledges also that the UK civil service operating in Scotland is loosely governed by Whitehall. Or the fact that Mark Sedwill, the highest ranking civil servant at the time, took part in the decision of extending Evans contract until 2022, that AFTER the result of the judicial review was released and it was evident that a thorough investigation of potential breaches of the code of conduct under Evans was required, not an extension of her contract.
Is fascinating to see that less than a month after Mr Douglas Ross wrote to Mark Sedwill demanding the sacking of Evans for breaching the civil service code, Mr Sedwill was parachuted to the HoL and out of the way, don’t you think?
I think that it is about time that someone did a mock-up of the ‘All the President’s Men’ poster with the Rev and Craig Murray as Woodward and Bernstein.
It is not just WoS reader’s who owe a debt of gratitude to them but the whole country.
I suspect that the designers of the Scottish Parliamentry system built in the weaknesses that are currently being exploited. One of the first actions of the Scottish Government should have been to adopt a written constitution to be voted on by the people of Scotland.
Ruddick herself in one of her texts expressed nervousness about ‘what happens when my name comes out as fishing for others to come forward’.
It would be interesting to see the reply to that email.
Obviously Ruddick knows she is doing something wrong.
Who would be guilty Ruddick or the person who has coerced her into doing this?
Still not much of a mention of it in the press. This is the only way common people understand and get to see what’s going on. My concern is that the committee will still be a whitewash and I’m not convinced re Hamilton. I hope Alex can keep turning the screw. Slowly slowly catchey monkey
@akenaton says: 17 March, 2021 at 7:44 am
“For F’s sake don’t try and blame this on the Tories.
It makes us look even worse if that’s possible.”
Far too late for that, Twatter and Farcebook are full of this
being blamed on a Tory plot to close down Holyrood already. So many people so thick that can’t remember Davies and Salmond being mates.
Mac, would argue more likely your list looks like this…
1. Plot Leader ?
There is a ring of 3. And they are so far below the radar of any scrutiny. They are also currently enjoying an extrodianaty win:win outcome. But there is a fly in their ointment.
2. Plot Puppet/ Plot Ambassador is Nicola Sturgeon – First Minister & Leader of SNP – While compliant and guilty – she has been played. Then played again by allowing and enabeling her ‘inner circle’ to orchestrate the stitch-up. A very low IQ decision.
3. Main ‘useful ideots’ plotter admin / Willing Participants
Leslie Evans – Permanent Secretary to FM
Liz Lloyd – Chief of Staff to FM
Judith MacKinnon – Head of People Advice for SNPG
Peter Murrell – CEO of SNP and Husband to FM
Sue Ruddick – COO of the SNP
Ian McCann – Compliance Officer of SNP
Nicola Richards – Head of People for SNPG
Barbara Allison – Director of Communications for SNPG
James Wollfe – Lord Advocate & Head of COPFS
For now Add…
David Harvie – Crown Agent, Head of Scotland’s Prosecution Service.
But as you say there are others. Eight are obvious – but as you say. To follow.
So, main plotters are not under scrutiny. See 1 – but the main ‘useful idiots’are.
Historically, most useful ideot when used and expendable crash and burn. Others will be elevated to safety to be forgotten about
Stolen valor and plagiarism from concern-troll David Davis.
This will have zero impact on the average voter’s voting intentions. (See Don’s post above).
‘That statement delivered under oath is hard to reconcile with the dozens of messages stretching over a period of months from September 2018, which I have now seen.
There is more, but it would take the whole of this debate to read them out’
There must be a lot of message for it to take that long to read them out.
Can someone remind me what happened in Sept 2018?
Blimey
Whatever comes of this election I think 3 things should happen;
1. The Moderator of this website should be awarded the Journalist’s equivalent of the Victoria Cross, whatever that is
2. This should never be allowed to fade after a couple of resignations and a few ‘Early retirements’ of civil servants. All implicated should face the full rigours of the law they inflicted on Mr Salmond
I can see no reason to doubt Police Scotland can do the job of investigating. The wheels of the law grind slow but they grind exceedingly small .I assume the cops were kept in the dark about the undermining ‘Unused material’ in the same way as the government’s own barristers. If my understanding is right the Lady Judge at the Salmond trial forbade the defence from arguing conspiracy. If she knew of this stuff I wonder if she would have said the same? Or if the Prosecution Service would even have approved charges? It seems a serious perversion of justice
3. Whatever happens at the election I think this may rebound to the benefit of independence. An SNP win with this lot in charge will be the political equivalent of winning the puff-adder in the Lucky Dip. Assuming the powers Davis suggested are given then future administrations will be VERY careful to play straight-especially if predecessors are still ‘doing time’
I’ll get me coat
@Mia – I was wondering how long it would take you to post. It’s been an uncomfortable night for you, hasn’t it and you’ve hardly slept. You’ve been given a lesson in honesty and accountability by the mother of all parliaments. By David Davis – would you care to compare the cut of that man to Swinney, Murrell, Wolffe?
This is an all Scottish fandango. Westminster just pay these civil-service tools; they are selected and given instruction by Sturgeon. Davis has ALL of the text messages and he reckons they could amount to a criminal conspiracy. Will Iain Livingston act now? What do you think?
I mentioned several weeks ago that crooked regimes across the world call in the Met when absolute probity is required. Maybe it is required here? What do you think?
Wolffe will have issued an instruction to find and kill the whistle-blower. I think that’s one thing we can all be certain about.
It’s all happening uncomfortably close to 5th May, isn’t it.
Hard to see how Liz Lloyd and Ruddick can remain in post now that what was known by those read the blogs is now in the public domain. I would expect the London based press to really start poking their noses into this trough now that David Davis has spoken about it. The closer we get to the election, the worse it is going to get for the FM and the SNP.
Nicola Sturgeon is to blame. Regardless of whose plot it is. Regardless of how many players are concerned. Regardless of the futility of committee and Holyrood. The buck stops at Nicola Sturgeon and it is she who must go.
@ Scots Renewables. If the actions of Sturgeon and her SNP have been chasing both SNP members out of her party and indy facing voters away from the SNP. How will the news of these revelations play with the man/woman in the street who doesn`t take a great interest in politics, but votes SNP because they think the SNP care about them?
@ Captain Yossarian
As I have said in reply to several posts on here, from the moment that Oliver Mundell stood up and got kicked out of the Holyrood chamber for calling the FM a liar, there was a tory plot in place that was only going to grow louder and stronger the closer we got to the 6th May.
The only people who seem surprised by this are the gullible SNP sycophants and the SNP top brass. Although with the latter, they are maybe working on a strategy of turfing it out and hoping for the best.
Dan Fyffe says:
17 March, 2021 at 8:24 am
The Sturgeonistas on Twitter remind me of the people who still thought we were going to win the World Cup after Peru scored their third goal.
____________
The Sturgeonites are the very same people who you fought against you within the labour party in the 2014 Indy Ref. They may have turned to yes, yet their mentality is the same. Follow & obey the leader.
They are house slaves. They need a master to follow. Pathetic yes, but this is what 100 years or more years conditioning does to folk with low intelligence & with no foresight or ambition to their future.
My own son, brought up by his mother said the same thing 9 years ago, He told me my recolations of Scotland isn’t what I told him as he was growing up.
He was also surprised his cousins were content to live life week to week. no inspiration of doing better than the norm.
As a small boy I taught him to question authority whether in school or in civic society.
In school I had problems, Not that my son was questioning them, but he was proven to be right.
As a man of 45 years he is well respected in the corporate word.
His friends to date are female friends he had at college & others throughout his life..
They loved him so much at uni these females, when I was in their company, wouldn’t let me as his mother let me go to the loo unaccompanied.
Are you telling me that my son who people admire will one day be, be able to bring down on charges of false allegations. because he wasn’t interested in the female advances towards him?
All of the plotters have to stay in post. The only chance for the lot of them is that they continue to hold the line, and rely on the inquiries and police being stared down.
@Mia says:17 March, 2021 at 8:56 am
“.. where Mr Davis acknowledges that the reason for this ridiculous and Orwellian situation to take place is that England’s parliament and England MPs in their rush to pass the Scotland Act to put Scotland’s new parliament on a leash did not give the Parliament all the minimum power it required to act as a parliament, so they left it basically unable to hold the government to account and exposed to the bullying of the COPFS?”
“…in their rush to pass the Scotland Act to put Scotland’s new parliament…” So which part of that sentence didn’t you understand ? It was rushed, just an oversight not a design or any sort of plot other than the garbage rattling about inside your own head that takes you down that route endlessly without reason or actual evidence. Seriously have you ever considered visiting a psychologist to talk about why you see conspiracies absolutely everywhere daily ?
While the setting up of Holyrood may have been rushed not one Scottish Parliamentarian SNP or otherwise from that day till now ever forsaw that problem or raised the issue that it might ever be an issue for the Parliament, so that does suggest it was just oversight unless you think Scots Politician’s are just too wee and too stupid to ever be able think for themselves ? The only reason it never became an issue before is that Holyrood didn’t had a corrupt Government till right now so was never previously required.
Andybhoy says:
17 March, 2021 at 9:17 am
@ Scots Renewables. If the actions of Sturgeon and her SNP have been chasing both SNP members out of her party and indy facing voters away from the SNP. How will the news of these revelations play with the man/woman in the street who doesn`t take a great interest in politics, but votes SNP because they think the SNP care about them?
The average voter in the street won’t look past what they see as just another Tory SNPbaaaad headline.
“t’s been an uncomfortable night for you, hasn’t it”
Uncomfortable night? You could not be further from the truth. I had a huge smile in my face during all those 22 minutes of video. I could not be more delighted at all this to be finally exposed and for a chance to all those criminals and the political fraud to be brought to account. If only, I am angry that they did not do that before.
It has taken almost 4 years for this disgusting conspiracy to be exposed in the HoC, in, allegedly, a democracy. MPs have been watching Scotland’s parliament struggle, committee members being bullied into submission, Mr Salmond’s caseS compromised by evidence being deliberately suppressed by COPFS deliberately misinterpreting the ruling of a judge, Mr Salmond’s reputation trashed by the press and broadcasters when he was the victim in all this, the public taken for a ride and denied the information they need to cast an informed vote in 7 weeks’ time and they did nothing until now, when we are about to enter a campaign.
So, what does this prove to me? It proves to me the British state has been rattled enough to be willing to cut the rope and hand over the separation of powers to protect itself and its more valuable assets. The only way it can do this at this point is by cutting the rope and letting a good number of their mid rank assets in Scotland to fall into the abyss. I see that they fell over themselves to put Mr Mark Sedwill safely in the HoLs before the real slaughter begins though.
What are the chances the crown agent is going to escape this scot free too, say with another seat in the HoLs?
Well about time.
@mia
I started reading your rant and had to give up. I doubt anyone else bothered to read it either.
As I said before you are not helping yourself one bit and the only person you speak for is yourself because there isn’t a single other person that agrees with you. You live in an alternate universe.
There are also others who seem to be clinging to the fantasy that Nicola Sturgeon is somehow an unlucky incompetent who has been played. Make no mistake that Sturgeon and hubby rule the SNP with an iron rod. All of this runs back to Nicola Sturgeon and none of it would have happened without her say so. She is the key in all of this and she clearly was the one who would benefit from Alex Salmond being driven out of public life and erased from history. It’s always about Nicola Sturgein and her psychopathic obsession with power.
Also interested to note that someone said above that Peter Murrell is a transvestite. I have to say that when I watched him at the inquiry he has the look of someone who wears makeup, you could just see it in his skin. Is any more info on this? Would perhaps go on to explain why the New SNP is so obsessed with trans rights.
Never in my life did I think it would be worth listening to David Davis for 22 minutes.
Life can be surprising at times.
So far Alex has resisted getting involved with mainly anything to do with Nicola Sturgeons government in Scotland anyone who has watched his show on RT will know he avoids anything to do with his personal life and the pressure he has been put under by people in the party he once led
SO FAR
@ ScotsRenewables
I beg to differ, I think you underestimate the ability to think of the average voter in the street. They may not play the long game in politics, but they will play the headlines game. This story should have been dealt with and buried a long time ago. The kicking it down the street for another day by the SNP top brass has left the story where a lot of us saw it surfacing, right before a Holyrood election.
KM
You are either a unionist or simple minded.
All Stuart Campbell has done since this site started is to tirelessly promote independence, he only stopped when Sturgeon and the SNP abandoned that goal and started to concentrate on insane unpopular policies.
At this moment in time Davis is not the enemy of independence, Sturgeon is.
To think Henry McLeish promptly agreed to resign as First Minister over the relatively trivial and non-criminal matter of Officegate, yet Sturgeon, the most corrupt and criminal politician Scotland has ever seen, tries to brazen it out and deploy every disgraceful stratagem she can to stay at Bute House.
Also Sturgeon was one of the most strident voices calling for McLeish to go back then.
I’ve always been uncomfortable with tribalism within politics and those that would seek to make public discussion on national governance just like football.
I’ve voted for all of the major political parties in Scotland, except the Conservative party. I was a member of the Green Party when I was 18 for a year or two, until I realised that to be a party member is to be a Partizan.
FULL CREDIT to David Davis for speaking the truth where it needed to be (and was allowed to be) spoken.
The truth transcends party politics, and even national constitutions.
I am curious as to why Owen Thomson stood up. Was he afraid that Mr Davis was going to use Parliamentary privilege to name names? or was he just trying to shut Mr Davis down before he got started?
@andybhoy
Scot renewables is just a pro sturgeon obsessive who’s describing his own thought process.
I am saying this because one of the women who can’t be mentioned had a crush on Alex & he rebuffed her. preferring to be faithful to his lovely wife Moira.
Just because a man is attractive to a Woman & rejects her doesn’t make him a bad man. women have rejected men’s advances. Would you say yes to this?
Scots Renewables @ 9.10am
That all depends if our colluding MSM grow a pair and shine some light on this or if they continue with the AS smear campaign.
I hope at least people do the MSM’s work and share, share share, to shine the spotlight on this conspiracy. These WhatsApp messages and text messages really need to be exposed to get to the sinister heart of this conspiracy.
Any SNP supporter / member needs to be living in a cave not to see how corrupt the SNP leadership has become.
As for the the SNP MSPs – they are fucking pitiful in their silence. None of these people deserve to be re-elected. They’re certainly of the mantra – party before what’s right for the Scottish people.
As the song goes ‘if you tolerate this, your children will be next’. Today it’s AS, Craig Murray, Mark Hirst – who next?
I’m not usually one for quotes but Martin Luther king sums up perfectly the fight against powerful corrupt regimes:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
The time is always right to do what is right.”
SNP MSPs do what is right – bring down this leadership.
SNP members do what is right – call out this fucking corrupt government that you support with your silence.
The independence movement needs the good people of the SNP (if any are left) to do what is right. Protecting corrupt governments is never right – ever.
“There are also others who seem to be clinging to the fantasy that Nicola Sturgeon is somehow an unlucky incompetent”
I think you have misread me completely. I have never supported the idea Nicola Sturgeon is an unlucky incompetent. I think she belongs in jail. She is an incompetent alright because if she wasn’t she would not be leaving elephant size footprints all around her and then expected to cover the conspiracy by brute force. Only an incompetent would so such a thing. But unlucky? You have to be kidding. This woman was in this up to her armpits from day one.
I do not think she is an “unlucky incompetent”. I think she is an incompetent British state plant.
Mia… your last post – 10 out of 10.
All those why’s? Exactly!
The plotters game plan was extremely well devised and executed. But all plans have both intended and unintented consequences.
The unintentionally consequences here were that a female judge and jury would would see the plan for what it was – a guilty by accusation zero evidence ploy. And they – the judge and jury would then stand for justice.
And that was never intended to happen – that outcome was unintended.
I apologise (the owner of the site will see that I am posting from an Irish IP address) for my ignorance of Scottish affairs but I was amazed to see a blunt claim above from a (?) NZ based poster that NS is a lesbian.
Nothing wrong with that of course but if true as she is married to a man this puts her in a very vulnerable position for blackmail and political pressure.
Is this widely known in Scotland?
Is it true?
Mia, I do not think she is an “unlucky incompetent”. I think she is an incompetent British state plant.
Yes.. she is now. A useful vanity obsessed state idiot.
A couple of random thoughts.
DD has now clarified beyond doubt, that ScotParl does not have parliamentary privilage for its members. This was in question when Kezia Dugdale slandered the Rev during FM questions. And it was difficult to get an answer then.
Now we know.
I’d suggest that FM question time this week is going to be interesting, but the cynic within me suggests, more likely just now, the printers are burning through paper, and the e-mails clogging up the interweb, sending out warning notices to all MSP’s – to the effect, that just because its in the public domain, doesn’t mean they’ve got parliamentary privilage… and around and around we go.
One final action that I could see being used is for Alex to take out a private criminal prosecution against them. It would be ground breaking – and a shocking display of the state of affairs with regards Police Scotland/COPFS, but probably the only assured way of getting a proper enquiry done.
I’ll put some pennies aside to fund that.
And the 10 out of 10 Mia relates to the 09:32 post..
-ScotsRenewables-
You are both right and wrong.
You are correct that this won’t change most people’s minds. But this is a massive scandal, not just some political bubble white noise. More and more people are becoming aware of it at the same time as this hate crime Bill farrago and at the same time as people are asking whether sturgeon will lead us to an indyref, and whether her St. Nicola of Covid act is all it’s cracked up to be. Meanwhile the unionists have a new swagger and are going hell for leather.
In other words, it might not change most people’s minds, but it might change enough to tip the fine balance. The proof is in the polls.
“It was rushed, just an oversight not a design”
Well, they have had over 22 years to correct it, don’t you think?
Are you saying the British state are fools and inexperienced and just have cosmic size oversights like this in something as fundamental as a parliament? You have to be kidding. It is my opinion they deliberately left it like that to allow themselves a back door to enter through and gerrymander things. Just like I believe they have done here in their desperate attempt to eject Mr Salmond from politics and keep a nationalist government on a leash. Problem is they went too far and blew the back door out of its hinges and now they are risking their own exposure, hence cutting the rope and let that door go.
I am sure they will quickly replace that back door with another more conspicuous though.
@ Mia – love your posts, most often agree, but even when I don’t appreciate your reasoning.
Captain Yoonsian, re ‘I mentioned several weeks ago that crooked regimes across the world call in the Met when absolute probity is required. Maybe it is required here? What do you think?’
Is that so that they can illegally shoot someone? They have form. Or is it so that they can break up lawful and peaceful protests – in that too, they also have form.
When Police Scotland was first formed and going through a terrible time under Steven House (a product of the Met), it got so bad, the slogan was, Police Scotland – making the Met look good.
Speak to any cop, from any force in England (other than the Met) and they won’t touch the shower of conceited, incompetent and corrupt bastards with a barge pole.
Genderwoowoo in practice in Canada
A glimpse of Scotland’s genderwoowoo future?
Pause and think about that for a moment: a judge issued a warrant for the arrest of a father if he ever called his female child “daughter” and “she.”
https://archive.is/5FWgt
John K says:
I was amazed to see a blunt claim above from a (?) NZ based poster that NS is a lesbian.
Is this widely known in Scotland?
Is it true?
Reply
1. No
2. No idea but would go with untrue
If I were to guess I would say Nicola Sturgeon is an asexual virgin.
I’ve been telling people for years that Holyrood is a Mickey Mouse parliament and the SNP have become corrupt colonial administrators. Not to talk Scotland down but because I believe the people of Scotland deserve better.
As long as the SNP held the reins of power, many in the indy movement became blind to the fact that devolution was created to deny the people of Scotland a properly functioning democratic state. They shouted down critics as “SNP bad” or “BritNats”.
Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. We see it as WM and Holyrood.
When we are denied a properly functioning state, that results in concentration of power, and lack of accountability. That in turn encourages corruption and abuse of power to flourish.
So Scotland’s people suffer corrupt British Imperial Govts and corrupt Scottish colonial administrators from the top of Govt down to local council and Health Board level.
It’s just a shame it took an English Tory MP to point out the truth about the inadequate Scottish Parliament and corrupt Scottish Govt but, credit to him for doing so.
Ruby and others-
We are told that Nicola had a miscarriage some years ago.
I see Daisy Walker has raised an issue I have wondered about many times. I meant to ask you earlier Mr Wings. Does this confirmation of non-privilege of parliamentarians make any difference to your case with Dugdale?
Ruby 10.01
NS stated some years ago (don’t remember exactly when) that she had suffered a miscarriage and was therefore sympathetic to all women who had suffered in this way. She sounded sincere at that time. But I remember wondering then about the role of the husband. (This is not intended as an insult or an ad hominem post).
Expect the lifeless body of the whistle-blower to be found hanging from London Bridge within the next 48-hours. James Wolffe will ‘know nothing’. John Swinney and Peter Murrell will ‘know nothing’ either.
Great respect due to Kenny MacAskill for his public efforts so far. Doing so against this pack of dogs isn’t easy.
Ruby says:
17 March, 2021 at 10:01 am
John K says:
If I were to guess I would say Nicola Sturgeon is an asexual virgin.
So the mis-carriage is either a lie or second a religious miracle?
@John K says: 17 March, 2021 at 9:48 am
“I apologise (the owner of the site will see that I am posting from an Irish IP address) for my ignorance of Scottish affairs but I was amazed to see a blunt claim above from a (?) NZ based poster that NS is a lesbian.
Nothing wrong with that of course but if true as she is married to a man this puts her in a very vulnerable position for blackmail and political pressure.
Is this widely known in Scotland?
Is it true?”
It’s a silly story since her uni days based around nothing more substansive than her having a “boys haircut” all her days. One of the most tiresome habits of the LGBTQ+ “scene” crowd is their spending of inordinate amounts of time convincing themselves that so-and-so is one of them but “in the closet” and looking for the most ludicrous “evidence” to prove it. One of the Green Ink Gang, Martin Redfern, is beyond obsessed with Sturgeon for this reason and hence why he’s obsessed with bitching about her dawn to dusk in the newspapers of the land.
Kind of ironic considering without her flinging Holyrood money at everything “rainbow” for the sake of it, his “gay health charity” would have gone bust years ago.
Sturgeon is a monosexual – completely in love with herself!
Tommo:
‘An SNP win with this lot in charge will be the political equivalent of winning the puff-adder in the Lucky Dip. ‘
haha this is excellent.
Still wading through the comments but here are some thoughts to tire you out with:
It’s safe to say we’d never have gotten to this point without the Rev. Without the groundwork being done here to raise the problems and make lots of people aware of them David or even Salmond would never have been able to make any headway on this.
What a remarkable speech by Davis – just read the transcript so far – so concise, clear, unambiguous and utterly damning.
It’s interesting to see people put principle above party politics. Davis has done us a great service and as Andy Ellis says an independent Scotland should acknowledge that in the highest terms.
This is probably foolish thing to say but there seems to be a thread in Tory politics that is not entirely unfriendly to an independent Scotland. The noise that the Spectator and now Davis is making over the stitch-up is quite unexpected given the deafening silences from absolutely every other quarter.
The reason I bring the last point up is that this is also a good example of how the grown-ups deal with problems. I’d be all for a frontal assault on Holyrood but this speech clearly shows that to really, really make a difference you need to calmly and methodically get the big guns lined up and then pull the trigger. Davis’ speech reduced any defences that the cabal had to piles of rubble in just a few minutes. As we’ve seen from Comfy Pete’s frantic and pathetic attempts at damage limitation every action now taken by the Scottish Government will now seem petty and vindictive. They’ve been show up for the small and inconsequential people they are.
Remarkable stuff. Very educational. Thanks again Rev. it would have been utterly impossible without you.
So this morning, no resignation, no statements, nothing. Just silence and hunkering down hoping this will all blow over.
Nicola Sturgeon’s judgement and strategy is shocking. She may have got away with ‘not knowing’ what her Chief of Staff was doing but she’s living in the same house and married to the man who was involved in the WhatsApp messages and we’re to believe she STILL didn’t know. Arms length strategy was never going to work. Bad judgement.
I don’t think she gets what a leader is and supposed to do. Her and her staff failed the processes, the policies, the legal advice etc, she resigns. Alex Salmond failed to gets us Indy, he resigned. David Cameron failed to keep the UK in Europe, he resigned. Her strategy failed, she resigns. Its what leaders do.
Instead we’ve got her embarrassingly hanging on for dear life thinking she’s done nothing wrong.
Sturgeon and Murrell remind me of the neighbours on the street that everyone’s got. Torn-faced crabbit gits, thinking they’re a cut above everyone else, stand at their windows watching where people park their cars and go about their daily lives. Complain constantly to the council about what others are doing. Want everyone to live to their high standards. Talk the back off some neighbours then run to the others telling them what the other neighbour is saying. Thinking their neighbours love them but people just avoid them and want them to get the fuck. Stick a bonnet and Parker on Murrell and he’s your typical wee nyaff marching down the street with a Daily Record sticking out his pocket.
You really can’t polish a turd.
This might be a great example of why it’s important to reach across the aisle and be pragmatic & mature in who you associate with in government, i.e. not be insular & childish idiots like the current SNP amateurs at Westminster.
I’ve noticed when watching AS interview people, he and they often have a warm, friendly tone, even if they take and entirely different political viewpoint. I suspect he has a lot of, if not friends, then people who respect him across parties and even internationally. I’d also hazard a guess this is not true of NS, or that many people in the current SNP. That ability to debate politely, with respect, and with real interest in the political debate is something which has been very much lost in the younger generation of politicians, not least the pathetic crowd of gender ideology politicians whose entire tactic is offence and silencing.
That in itself, would seem to give lie to the idea that we need NS for international bridge building and that she’s somehow better at it. I suspect she’s great at building ideological bridges, as she’s done with the trans stuff. Not so much the real and critical ones which AS seems so good at.
Mia
“Who is the main beneficiary of the wheels and the engine of that main vehicle for independence being removed? the British state.”
You are correct, and there is good reason why George Osborne refers to the tripartite of copfs, police and civil service as ‘the arms’ of the British state in Scotland, for it is they wha aye haud Scotlan doun. It is also they wha aye haud Scotlan ticht nae maiter wha bides in Bute Hoose nor Holyrood. An thay’re erms are aw ower this mankit stushie.
Yes, the SNP leadership cabal may have given the British state’s hounds the scent, but the British state’s hounds (or arms) did the chasing an pit yon auld fox AS in a corner. (A cartoon suggestion for Chris?). Tho yon auld fox proved tae be tae smairt fer thaim! That’s why he’s ca’d smairt Alex.
@mia
So Nicola Surgeon is a British state plant…
I’ll just be ignoring your comments from now on, I deal in reality not fantasy and conspiracy.
I remember once Alex Salmond referring to David Davis as a decent man, I cringed when he said it but I now see what he means, I suspect there’s a friendship there in spite of their political differences
Capt Yossarian
You have been pretty clear, as have I, that John Swinney has played a major role in this whole debacle, beyond the efforts he has made latterly to obstruct the committee.
My hope is that once Wolffe has gone, there will be a deep clean of the Crown Office and the restoration of legal integrity to the whole system.
Swinney’s days MUST be numbered. He is as damaged as Sturgeon.
But so are all those SNP MSPs who knew what was going on but said nothing, and the opposition who have been pretty slow to pick-up on the enormity of the situation.
Remember that the Greens have shored-up this corrupt administration and I do hope that they pay a very heavy price at the polls.
https://www.tns2019.org/new-blog-1/2021/3/17/the-route-map-to-justice
This is what friends do when you need them. Well Done David Davis
Cudneycareless says:
17 March, 2021 at 10:10 am
Ruby says:
17 March, 2021 at 10:01 am
John K says:
If I were to guess I would say Nicola Sturgeon is an asexual virgin.
So the mis-carriage is either a lie or second a religious miracle?
Reply
Or she may have taken the ‘Ruth Davidson’ route!
If she isn’t a virgin she’s an asexual ‘nightie on lights out’ type of gal.
(This is not intended as an insult or an ad hominem post).
🙂
Ach maybe it is sometimes I ain’t perfect.
@ Fishy Wullie
I know someone in a professional sense, more wealth in his wallet than I have in total. Drives around town in an incognito car, goes to the shops in his jeans and sweatshirt. A very likeable chap, never passes you by in the street without saying hello or stopping for a chat. The only thing we disagree on are politics, he is a tory and I am not. I would rather be friends with a tory than some of the frankly quite despicable SNP trolls on social media right now.
The important question is when the nightie is on and the lights are out does she lie back and think of England?
Re NSs sexuality, the French ambassador springs to mind.
No one cares if she is/isn’t.
The problem is, if she’s covering up, she been compromised
If Swinney wants to save what’s left of his reputation (his career’s fucked anyway) he needs to spill his guts………and quickly.
Ruby says:
‘nightie on lights out’ type of gal.
17 March, 2021 at 10:22 am
I’m going to have to get a cloth to clean the spluttered tea off my screen. Thank you.
Well done David Davis
But before we award you the House Orderly badge and promote you to senior sixer, how do you account for ‘Brexit will be the easiest trade deal the UK has ever done’?
And is it true that you are regarded as a joke in Europe because you turned up for the negotiations without any papers?
That said/asked, your apparent conversion to political fastidiousness is most welcome.
It would seem likely that Kenny MaCaskill and Joanna Cherry drafted the speech.
@Ruby
OT perhaps, but do you reckon La Davidson ticked the self-harming box in the AI questionnaire?
Suitability for parenthood or what.
I expected this might be the banner headline across all Scotland’s media this morning. Yet strangely enough it isn’t as if we live in a parallel universe where truth and lies are completely seperate, and all they are concerned with is when we can get a haircut
It SHOULD be the end of them all and the beginning of a criminal case. Thank God for the principle of Parliamentary Privilege in the Westminster parliament and for David Davis who has integrity and eloquence.
For me the committee is now fundimentally compromised as well and the SNP members on it should consider whether their alliance to the party is at variance to their alliance to truth and decency.
Dear Rev Stu. I am only a recent devotee of your site and find myself in agreement with the majority of your blogs. A wee suggestion-would it be possible to ‘number’ each post? I often do not have the time to read all the responses in one go and it would be helpful to know that I read up to say post 168 when I next revisit.
The majority of posters on here, apart from the obvious conspiracy theorist nutter views, appear capable of rational thought and the sense of betrayal by many is understandable. More power to your elbow.
Nominations for THE PRIVATE EYE PAUL FOOT AWARD 2021 are open until 1st April. Has Wings been nominated?
oneliner says:
17 March, 2021 at 10:48 am
@Ruby
OT perhaps, but do you reckon La Davidson ticked the self-harming box in the AI questionnaire?
Suitability for parenthood or what.
Reply
What a dirty mind I have I initially thought by ‘self harming’ you meant the thing that some folk reckon causes you to go blind.
Sorry I know nothing about AI except how to say the phrase in Spanish! Don’t ask!
What about Dominic Grieve is he not quite a decent Tory?
Wow. Excellent stuff. Thankyou Stuart for posting that.
ScotsRenewables says:
17 March, 2021 at 9:10 am
Quote :- “This will have zero impact on the average voter’s voting intentions”
You wish. Mr and Mrs Average are waking up.
About time we also shit canned the renewables scam too.
Subsided by everyone who uses mains lekky or gas to the sum of 8 to 12% of your annual bill. Nationalise the whole lot, rip them all out of the ground/sea and go nuclear with no fees…
Ruby says:
17 March, 2021 at 11:07 am
What about Dominic Grieve is he not quite a decent Tory?
I believe he lives in France now.
Oh and No.
A Person: “I believe he is a friend of Alex Salmond’s, in I think 2017 I went to Alex’s show at the Fringe where Davis was one of his guests, it was in a venue on George Street.
What a time to be alive, eh?”
I was at that show as well, I remember thinking how exciting it would be if the ‘surprise special guest’ turned out to be Nicola Sturgeon. How little we knew.
Chas at 10.55 – just look at the clock.
“Nominations for THE PRIVATE EYE PAUL FOOT AWARD 2021 are open until 1st April. Has Wings been nominated?”
I suspect The Spectator will win for plagiarising WoS as they are more Establishment than Rev Stu.
Would be very happy to be proven wrong though.
Rancid are shite. 🙂
Interesting the amount ay clowns here saying Westminster is great n Holyrood should be disbandit. Ur youse cunts taking the piss, or whit?
beflox says:
All this talk of ousting Sturgeon and resetting the SNP, it’s an ignorant fantasy that is being fueled for reasons that have nothing to do with intelligent independence debate.
Bullshit! Sturgeon has to go because she’s done nothing to advance independence throughout her terms as First Minister and SNP leader She’ll continue to do nothing if she gets re-elected. The fact she’s a corrupt and conniving liar at the very heart of Salmondgate is just garnish.
Her stewardship of the SNP has been a total disaster. Her and her cronies have to go. It’s thet simple. The SNP has no hope of recovery until the Sturgeonistas get booted out for good.
Mark Boyle says:
Sturgeon is a monosexual – completely in love with herself!
If that’s true she really can go and fuck herself.
@Jockanese Wind Talker says:
“Nominations for THE PRIVATE EYE PAUL FOOT AWARD 2021 are open until 1st April. Has Wings been nominated?”
I suspect The Spectator will win for plagiarising WoS as they are more Establishment than Rev Stu.
Would be very happy to be proven wrong though.”
Yeah, because Private Eye are going to give an award to one of its biggest rivals? Who wants to win an award named after an SWP apologist anyway?
I know some people on the left knee jerk think he was the bee’s knees, but anyone who was an activist for those rapey thugs can fk right off.
Listening to Boris in parliament talking about protecting women?
How does he get away with that?
Serial adulterer
At least 6 kids to multiple partners.
Police called to latest partners home as she was screening due to being physically restrained.
He refused to leave her home as instructed.
Argument was supposedly due to his philandering
American Blond business women Boris spent time and money on promoting
declared she was having an affair with him.
This man Boris, PM, Tory in Chief, is going to tell us how to protect women???
You had me with the Rancid quotes.
Funnily enough, I can’t spot anything about DD’s speech at WM anywhere on BBC News. They have a bit about celebrating St Patrick’s Day all over the world, though – so that’s alright, then…
So the best response Sturgeon and her cabal can come up with is that the e mails are irrelevant and open to interpretation. Amazing cant, even worse than I can’t recall. If that was the case then why can’t the assigned Committee be given the texts, and ALL the texts, for them to judge.
There is only one answer .. cover up, but now it’s becoming a cover up of the cover up.
Does any Scottish national with any pride seriously think this is the way we want to be governed ?
Ms Sturgeon really has more front than Eastbourne-according to the Daily Record she has ‘Slammed’ David Davis for ‘Insinuations’ and when asked re this scandal went on to say that she was not going to have the ‘Covid briefing’ sidetracked- this from the woman who used her exclusive air-time at a Covid ‘briefing’ (And if these are brief, I’d hate to hear her talk at length) to attack Mr Salmond and question the findings of the jury
Someone earlier compared this to Watergate; well yes-but at bottom Watergate was ‘only’ about a burglary; this is about trying to put a man away for the rest of his life
Short term this is good justice for AS, which Everyone agrees with
However who has read between the lines of DD speech,
For instance he mentions “quote” this will strengthen the civil servants roll in Scotland,
He also avoids mentioning that MSM such as tories, labour, libdems as being able to come under the umbrella for investigative powers in Scotland while they are part of the Scottish goverment,
And long term it implies that the laws in England can overrule Scots law by the back door, creating an intriguing slant on the wording of the treaty of the union,
It also alters the Scottish devolution settlement that Scots voted for. When in reality we just needed to have our own protocol for removing corruption in the Scottish goverment,
The way DD is speaking for the long term future is for Westminster to overrule and infiltrate the Scottish devolved goverment in the long term,
This will inevitably take the teeth out of the devolved goverment, and long term out of the ability to pass any law that might bring independence to the Scottish people through the Scottish Parliament by protecting civil servants, Tories, Labour, and libdems, but not a Scottish Independence Party,
DD is already stating the changes that will remove the teeth from the Scottish lion long term,
Yes I am absolutely delighted for AS and the justice he deserved,
But there are upcoming changes about to take place as a result to the Scottish devolved government.
If Sturgeon gets a move on she her Government could improve conditions at Corntob Vale just in time for her arrival.
Cornton Vale.
Davies sums this up with clarity.
OK, but what happens now?
“Alex Salmond’s claim that Nicola Sturgeon’s staff leaked the name of one of the women who complained about the former first minister’s behaviour has been corroborated by an ex-civil servant.
Lorraine Kay told a Holyrood inquiry that a complainer’s identity had been shared with Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond’s chief of staff.
Ms Kay, who worked in the then-first minister’s private office for five years, is the third person to back up Mr Salmond’s statement that a government official revealed the name of one of the women who had come forward with an allegation.”
From the Evening Standard 15 mins ago
https://archive.is/2Ls6V
“ This is probably foolish thing to say but there seems to be a thread in Tory politics that is not entirely unfriendly to an independent Scotland. The noise that the Spectator and now Davis is making over the stitch-up is quite unexpected given the deafening silences from absolutely every other quarter.”
I agree 100%. Very foolish.
John K says:
17 March, 2021 at 9:48 am
I apologise (the owner of the site will see that I am posting from an Irish IP address) for my ignorance of Scottish affairs but I was amazed to see a blunt claim above from a (?) NZ based poster that NS is a lesbian.
________________
Yes it’s well known Nicola has had a long term relationship with a French woman from an embassy. Peter for a time was involved with her brother.
Nicola it seems, has bought the house of Andy Murrays mother as their bolt hole. I’m sure someone with more knowledge than me with a computer can verify this.
It’s just a matter of looking up the address & seeing who owns it.
Yes I would say Nicola is somewhat compromised. Silly girl should have been more out front as Ruth Davidson was.
Being lesbian is no big deal. One of the people I respect in the SNP is Joanne Cherry. She is a proud lesbian & I respect her for that.
Meg merrilees says,
“We are told that Nicola had a miscarriage some years ago.”
I doubt anyone would believe that now.
If medical records were provided, we could be sure they had been forged.
Anyway a lesbian can have a baby, like that Tory woman.
DD : “Now Alex Salmond has asserted that there has been a ‘malicious and concerted attempt to remove me from public life in Scotland’…by… ‘a range of individuals within the Scottish Government and the SNP’ who set out to ‘damage [his] reputation, even to the extent of having [him] imprisoned.’”
What was the motive for senior members of the Scottish government/SNP to damage AS’s reputation even to the extent of having him imprisoned?
John Brown,
I don’t know if you followed Alex’s career, but prior to these accusations he was doing talks to packed halls in Scotland discussing the slow progress to Indy was becoming.
I think he was planning some type of come back to push the issue at Holyrood.
Kcor says:
17 March, 2021 at 6:03 pm
Meg merrilees says,
“We are told that Nicola had a miscarriage some years ago.”
I doubt anyone would believe that now.
If medical records were provided, we could be sure they had been forged.
Anyway a lesbian can have a baby, like that Tory woman.
Wow, so this is the level this site is stooping to now?
@Breeks says:
17 March, 2021 at 8:04 am
“If the SNP wants my vote in May, then they know what they have to do.”
Agreed.
@WhoRattledYourCage says:
17 March, 2021 at 12:16 pm
Rancid are shite.
Each to their own – and I disagree!
Chas at 10:55
Hi Chas just note the time of the last message you’ve read. Then scroll forward from this time to read more.
@Kiwilassie 5.40 pm
Yes it’s well known Nicola has had a long term relationship with a French woman from an embassy. Peter for a time was involved with her brother.
I would dispute it is well known. There are rumours put about by people like you.
NS doesn’t have a brother – are you suggesting PM was having a relationship with the French woman’s brother?
If it is ‘just a matter of looking up the address and seeing who owns it’ then maybe you can provide us with some evidence of the stuff you are coming out with. You have also claimed Liz Lloyd was married to Ed Miliband more than once despite being told otherwise.
I am no fan of NS but stuff like this is not helpful and unless it affects her role as FM then it is not relevant
Jesus wept. SG releases letter from Ms Kay with one redacted name that allows all but the terminally brain dead to identify one of the accusers so is the SG now to be dragged in front of Lady Dorrian for contempt of court. Far worse than anything Craig Murray did.
To all the Nicola Sturgeon supporters out there. Remember when Nicola said she was looking forward to giving her evidence and how that would explain everything and show that it was all just the ramblings of a clearly deranged Alex Salmond? It’s been a couple of weeks now since that day and the accusations are not going away. In fact the evidence that has come to light recently firmly supports the Alex Salmond case. There is no point in being led to independence by people whose integrity is so compromised. The Scotland you what needs to be founded by people we can look up to and respect. By using the power of the state to withhold evidence, to manufacture evidence, to give false statements to the police, to seek to have your political rivals imprisoned, to lie to Parliament, to obstruct the committee of enquiry, to withhold evidence, to lie on oath. All of these things each and of themselves show that this government is not fit to govern. Independence needs to have leaders of integrity to allow the country to succeed. To do it with this lot risks entering into a dictatorship ruled over by a gang. A gang that will ensure they hold on to power with an iron fist.
Exactly so. I have no wish to see out the last years of my life in a WOKE Police State.
It’s the “Why” that has always bothered me, and I just wonder. If within this conspiracy there is one person who has enough hatred of AS to be able to use their position to drag everyone down that is around them, just to protect themselves?
I put off reading this thread till today, so this is me catching-up. (Always amazed at how many folk on here go off-topic as quick as a flash!)
Anyway,
Wee Chid says:
16 March, 2021 at 11:10 pm
Just read this on the BBC site
“A spokesman for First Minister Ms Sturgeon said: “As with Mr Salmond’s previous claims and cherry picking of messages, the reality is very different to the picture being presented.
“Every message involving SNP staff has been seen by the committee previously. Their views have been widely reported as dismissive of them.””
They really don’t know when to stop digging, do they?
______________________________________________________________
Did no-one else notice Glen Campbell on BBC News telling us that the letter from a spokesperson for the FM was unsigned, specifically because it had been written by one of the former complainers (i.e. alphabet-women). It accused David Davis of “cherry-picking” some messages to make his case. Yes, I know, a prime example of pot/kettle/black. Not like withholding and then delaying and redacting critical legal advice, and relevant messages. (Oh, no, you don’t need to see that evidence!)
However, I’m wondering how Glen Campbell knew who had written the unsigned letter. Maybe he had a fleeting, impromtu discussion with one of his contacts, or a little bird told him.
It’s a pity that Davis’ 22-minute, measured, thoughtful speech was cut to only seconds for broadcasting, but we shouldn’t be surprised. As Davis said, the investigating committee can see certain evidence, but it can’t use it. What a god-awful mess!
Am I angry about all this? Damned right I am. Seething is the word. After 55 years in the SNP, I now have hold my nose when giving them my constituency vote, as that looks like only way of keeping a unionist coalition out of power in Holyrood.
is it true that eck got female staff to tie his shoelaces?