The Covid inquiry has damaged Sturgeon’s legacy beyond repair

If you thought senior Conservatives giving evidence to the UK Covid inquiry in London was rough then you should watch the footage now emerging from Edinburgh, where the Inquiry’s lawyers have moved to take evidence. It’s a bloodbath. Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and current first minister Humza Yousaf are yet to even take the stand. But already the sessions have revealed a Scottish SNP government embroiled in secrecy, cover-up and the politicisation of a deadly pandemic in the interests of furthering the cause of independence.

The latest revelations are startling. On Friday morning, the inquiry established that Sturgeon and other senior Scottish government officials had deliberately deleted WhatsApp messages the inquiry wanted as evidence. Later in the day, the inquiry questioned Ken Thomson, a retired senior civil servant and the former manager of the Covid coordination directorate of the Scottish government. He was asked about posts he made in a ‘Covid outbreak group’ WhatsApp chat in August 2020.