First Minister Nicola Sturgeon appeared to be in a poor mood today, after David Davis used parliamentary privilege in the Commons last night to make a series of allegations against the Scottish government over its handling of the Salmond investigation.
After the ITV journalist Peter Smith asked Sturgeon about the new allegations at the Scottish government’s Covid briefing, the First Minister at first refused to answer the question at all, saying ‘I’m not having this briefing side-tracked into the latest instalment of the conspiracy theories we’ve all be hearing about for a long time’. Sturgeon then took a rather more hostile approach, saying she would only answer questions from the journalist about Covid. To his credit, Smith refused to take up Sturgeon’s offer and continued to probe the First Minister about David Davis’ allegations, until he was cut off.
Putting to one side Nicola Sturgeon’s rather hostile approach to a free press, Mr S was surprised to see the First Minister making the case that only Covid could be discussed at these briefings.
After all, back in February Sturgeon used her Covid briefing to launch an incredible attack on Alex Salmond, accusing her predecessor of peddling ‘a false and dangerous conspiracy theory’, and adding ‘I don’t think there is a shred of evidence behind those allegations and the claims that have been made.’ Sturgeon’s entire tirade on the Salmond allegations ended up lasting 11 minutes during a briefing about coronavirus.
What could explain the discrepancy? Mr S suspects the answer is simple: Sturgeon is happy to treat these press conferences like a party-political broadcast when it suits her, but is rather less keen on the idea of being held to account…
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