Calls for police probe after bombshell messages allege to show 'plot' to jail Alex Salmond

The messages - which have been published by the Sunday Mail - were sent between September 2018 and January 2019, when Alex Salmond won a judicial review against an “unlawful” Scottish Government misconduct investigation against him and police began a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

They are understood to have been put before the judge at the time of Mr Salmond’s criminal trial in 2020, but have never been published before.

They reveal that while some senior figures privately doubted some of the experiences amounted to criminal investigations others were keen to collate evidence to add to the list of potential criminal offences.

Now Conservative MP David Davis - a close friend of Alex Salmond - said they proved there had been a plot against him.

Writing on X, Davis said: “As I believed when I first raised this in Parliament, there was clearly a conspiracy to pervert the cause of justice involving members of the SNP and SNP government that led to the trial of Alex Salmond.

“Since then successive SNP governments have run a serial cover up, suppressing evidence over and again, assisted by the compromised state of the Scottish prosecutorial system.

“It is high time there was a proper police investigation by an independent police force beyond the control of the SNP.”

Fergus Ewing, who has since left the SNP and is now standing in the upcoming election as an independent candidate, said: “These revelations are both shocking and devastating.

"They appear to show several individuals were not only determined to destroy Alex Salmond but to connive and conspire against him.

“I shall therefore write to the Lord Advocate urging her to instruct a full investigation into whether there has been a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.”

And Kenny MacAskill, who was Alex Salmond's justice minister while he was FM and later took over as leader of the defunct Alba Party after his death, said: “I’ve always believed that individuals at the heart of the SNP and Scottish Government conspired to bring Alex down because they were worried he was going to make a return to Holyrood.

"These messages confirm my suspicions.

"There should be a police inquiry and public inquiry into the entire affair, it strikes at the heart of our democracy.”

Mr Salmond was cleared of 13 sexual misconduct charges in the criminal trial, including one of attempted rape, back in March 2020. On leaving court he claimed there had been “deliberate fabrications for a political purpose”.

It has now been revealed that in a pre-trial court hearing his defence lawyer Gordon Jackson KC told the judge, Lady Dorrian, there had been texts between complainants, government officials and SNP members.

He urged her to allow use of this material admitted as evidence as he believed “there was a concerted effort made by people in the government to influence the process, to get it as best they could in terms of criminal prosecution”. However she refused.

Some of the messages were previously hinted at by David Davis in a 2021 Commons speech in which he alleged a plot to take down the former FM.

According to one WhatsApp exchange, one woman was asked if she had “an Alex story”, and she said: “If I do I don't remember - wandering hands, some shouting, but not really … I think I wasn’t his type.”

After the news that Mr Salmond had been charged in January 2019, another said: “Police say mine not on list as. It enough evidence (sic). Yet. Felt like asking what they need and I’ll get it for them!”

Another woman said: “I speak for myself here - I don’t think what happened to me would constitute an offence.”

And another said: “Tbh, what happened to me didn’t particularly bother me at the time but I felt it was important to back up the others.” In response to this, a senior SNP figure said: “Yeah I’m in the same boat in terms of backing others.”

On the day Salmond was charged, one said: “He is going to jail. And I’m ******* glad … was considering briefing the media … good move by police to do this now then we are protected by contempt of court.”

And in one exchange, the SNP’s compliance officer Ian McCann and the then chief operating officer Sue Ruddick discuss attempting to find potential victims, and appear disappointed that someone who said they could deliver “five folk by the end of that week” had “overreached”.

Mr McCann said: “I think one other said to her that she would. But didn’t … or at least, not yet.”

In January 2019, Ms Ruddick told Mr McCann she hoped one of five complainers would be “sickened enough to get back in the game” after Salmond won his court challenge against the Scottish Government’s investigation.

In another message, a senior SNP figure refers to convening a “council of war” and another shows Ms Ruddick writing to then chief executive Peter Murrell: “**** seems up for the fight. Keen to see him go to jail.”

In response Mr Murrell said: “Ian has just returned from his chat with ****. Forgot to ask if she knew any of the charges involved her or indeed whether OK for us to pass her complaint to us over to police. All in all he’s p***** me off with his attitude.”

Mr Salmond maintained until his death in October 2024 that allies of Nicola Sturgeon had conspired to have him jailed - something which she has firmly dismissed and has said there is no evidence to back up his claims.

The revelations come ahead of the publication this week of what is expected to be a bombshell book by former SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who was a supporter of Mr Salmond.

She has said that her book will "argue that there is prima facie evidence of a conspiracy to bring Alex Salmond down."

They also come just two weeks out from the Scottish Parliament elections where John Swinney is hoping to lead the SNP into a fifth consecutive term.

A spokesperson for the SNP said: “These issues, including the question of WhatsApps between women, have been examined and re-examined repeatedly over the last seven years.

“It is vital that all those who report bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault wherever it takes place are supported to do so, and we must ensure that Scotland is a place in which people can challenge and report these behaviours without hesitation or fear.

“The SNP’s focus is on continuing to deliver for the people of Scotland with our ambitious plan to tackle the cost-of-living, improve our public services like the NHS, and deliver the fresh start of independence.”