John Swinney rages at suggestion Peter Murrell court date was moved to give SNP a ‘political advantage’
The First Minister accused Scottish Tory Deputy Leader Rachael Hamilton of ‘disrespecting’ the judiciary after she asked the Crown Office to publish its reasoning why Nicola Sturgeon wasn’t charged in relation to Operation Branchform.
Nicola Sturgeon and husband Peter Murrell pictured at Wimbledon in 2015.
John Swinney was left raging at claims that Peter Murrell’s court date delay from February until after the Holyrood election gave the SNP a “political advantage.” He was originally due to enter a plea on February 20 but this was moved to May 25, with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) refusing to say why.
A statement at the time said: “The court, having granted an application, has discharged the preliminary hearing scheduled for February 20 under Section 75A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.”
In the run-up to the original date, extensive details from the indictment were published by the Scottish Sun and then repeated by other outlets, including the SNP. At the rescheduled court hearing, which took place three weeks after Scots went to the polls, the former SNP chief executive pled guilty to embezzling £400k from his party and was remanded in custody.
Some critics believe that if the case had gone ahead on the original date, it would have damaged Mr Swinney in the polls. Calls have been made for SCTS to come clean about the reasons for the postponement – and for the Crown Office to explain why Nicola Sturgeon was not also charged in connection with Operation Branchform.
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An urgent question was selected at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday where Mr Swinney took questions from concerned MSPs about the lack of accountability within the SNP. But he was left angered by suggestions that prosecutors purposely delayed the hearing until after the election.
He refused to back calls for the Crown Office and SCTS to publish details about the case while again insisting the SNP were “victims” and that only Murrell was to blame for what happened, and not the figures within the party who ignored concerns raised about finances, such Kirsten Oswald and Alex Kerr. The former is now the victims minister and the latter is a backbench SNP MSP.
Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton
Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: “John Swinney is desperately trying to sweep this scandal under the carpet and denied there was any problem in 2021. In 2021, Nicola Sturgeon denied there was anything untoward in the SNP’s finances. Months later, Police Scotland opened a formal investigation and in April 2023, a tent was erected by Police Scotland in Nicola Sturgeon’s family home, and Peter Murrell was arrested.
“Peter Murrell will rightly face the full force of the law, but the public will question why the former First Minister did not face investigation. Nicola Sturgeon denies any knowledge off this, despite using a £700 bag whilst checking the time on a five grand watch and sipping coffee from a three grand coffee machine.”
Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie made a similar point, highlighting the “rotten culture of secrecy and cover-up at the heart of the SNP Government.” She added: “We have seen this during the Salmond Inquiry, the legal challenge to the Information Commissioner and at its most extreme, the embezzlement of SNP supporters money.
“A complaint was made to the police about the SNP’s finances in March 2021. In May of that year, John Swinney appeared on the Sunday politics show and said he had no idea why the party’s treasurer resigned. In June, Nicola Sturgeon said money had not gone missing and there was nothing to see here. I’m not sure if any of that reflects the truth. How can the public trust John Swinney when he is the man who is the architect of this culture of secrecy?”
And Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr grilled Mr Swinney on why the Murrell case was delayed. He said: “One of the most damning aspects of all this is that Nicola Sturgeon claimed to be co-operating with a police investigation, but her reply to every question was no comment.
Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr(Image: Ken Jack/Getty Images)
“Does the First Minister have any self-awareness about how all of this looks to the people of Scotland? And one of the things that sticks in the throats of a lot of people is that the trial was supposed to take place before the election, but was mysteriously postponed to a date after the election.
“There is undoubtedly a political advantage to the SNP because of that postponement, so why was the hearing postponed, and who authorised the date change of the proceedings?’
Mr Swinney didn’t answer the question and instead accused Mr Kerr of “pointing the finger at judges exercising their judicial independence” and of not “respecting” them. He claimed he would “defend this to his last breath” and warned his rival not to “dabble with it.”
John Swinney takes questions from reporters after Peter Murrell’s court appearence
He claimed that this delay wasn’t an “exceptional” incident but that it happens on a “very regular basis.” He also alleged that Ms Hamilton was being “disrespectful to the judicial system in this country, it is an insult to the rule of law, and it should not be tolerated in this Parliament.”
Speaking afterwards, Ms Hamilton said: “The Lord Advocate is responsible for all criminal prosecution decisions in Scotland, as well as sitting in the SNP cabinet – and she should publish the reasons why the Crown Office did not pursue charges against Nicola Sturgeon. It’s sadly typical of John Swinney’s efforts to sweep this scandal under the carpet that he refused to agree to this.”
