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Andrew Neil Profile picture
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9 Jan, 5 tweets, 1 min read
Alex Salmond's assault on his former protégé Nicola Sturgeon is pretty savage:
Terms of Hamilton inquiry to see if she broke ministerial Code so tightly drawn by her deputy (Swinney) that almost impossible it can find against her.
Idea that her March 29th 2018 meeting with his emissary re complaints against him -- meeting she claimed to have forgotten -- fleeting or opportunistic "simply untrue".
Claims she indicated mediation/arbitration possible in procedures investigating complaints against him. Reneged
Failure to inform her civil servants in timely manner of meetings between the two of them.
Only conceded his Judicial Review case against ScotGov when its own legal team threatened to resign.
ScotGov case was "unstateable" ie incapable of being pleaded, putting her in breach of ministerial Code 2.30 (must always act legally).
Claims to Scot Parl that she first heard of complaints against him on April 2nd 2018 "untrue and in breach of Code".
Claims she had forgotten about about March 29 meeting "untenable".
Claims that April 2 meeting was to be about party matters as opposed to complaints against him and Scot Gov procedures "wholly false and manifestly untrue."

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More from @afneil

Andrew Neil Profile picture
8 Jan
Reasons to be cheerful for America after last night's grim scenes from Capitol Hill.
1. It was not an attempted coup or insurrection. It was a mob on the rampage, which got further than it ever expected because of appalling policing.
2. The Trump presidency is already over, ending in ignominy after his role in fomenting last night. Mike Pence is caretaker for the next 12 days working with congressional leaders. The Pentagon and the National Guard are answering to them.
3. There would be some symbolism and even justice in invoking the 25th amendment. But why exacerbate divisions even further. If Trump tries to use any of the important levers of power before Jan 20 he will find there is no response. He is neutered.
Read 5 tweets
Andrew Neil Profile picture
7 Jan
You accuse me of regularly praising Trump for four years. Yet cannot produce a single example. Not one.
You ignore my many criticisms of Trump on this very platform.
Unable to stand up your original tweet you retreat to making me accountable for the content of The Spectator.
You know that is disingenuous. The Editor is solely responsible for all content. He has published pro and anti Trump articles over the years. You ignore that too.
Part of my job is to protect his editorial freedom to publish what he wants, even when I disagree with it.
I appreciate academia today is often more interested in closing down debate than encouraging free speech. So maybe you're struggling with the concept of editorial freedom. You're certainly struggling with producing facts to back up your barmy assertions.
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Neil Profile picture
1 Jan
In one of the most egregious examples of value destruction in newspaper history, JPI Media (formerly Johnston Press), owners of The Scotsman and a raft of regional titles, is sold for a mere £10m, spread over 3 years. They bought The Scotsman Group alone for £160m in 2005.
The Scotsman had been purchased for £80m 10 years before that. So we (I was Publisher for those 10 years) doubled its value in a decade. Add in another £25m for the magnificent building we constructed (which JP did not buy but rented before moving to much reduced premises).
So after a decade of massive valued added, JPI Media managed to destroy most of it in the following 15 years. The Scottish political and media establishment has been curiously quiet about JPI Media’s appalling record. Perhaps because they were complicit.
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Neil Profile picture
9 Dec 20
Key quotes from businessman letter to Herald:
“I have never encountered anti-Scottish resentment south of the Border (indeed the number of Scots in top positions in my industry rather suggests the opposite).
What I have rather encountered is a quite genuine sense of bewilderment at an endless enunciation of grievance and inferiority. This isn’t Anglophobia, it is something more. [The SNP wants] to control our own future and decide what sort of country we choose to live in.
Quite right. That’s why we have a Scottish Parliament in charge of the vast bulk of the internal affairs of Scotland, capable of producing a radically different agenda if it should so choose.
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Neil Profile picture
25 Sep 20
Important thread (for me!): With heavy heart I announce I will be leaving the BBC. Despite sterling efforts by new DG to come up with other programming opportunities, it could not quite repair damage done when Andrew Neil Show cancelled early summer + Politics Live taken off air
But I leave with no animosity or desire to settle scores. I look back on my 25 years doing live political programmes for the BBC with affection. And gratitude for brilliant colleagues at Millbank, who always made sure I went into the studio fully briefed and equipped for the fray
They were/are the best of the best. If they can make me look good, they can make anybody look good. There could have been a different outcome but for reasons too dull to adumbrate, we’ll leave it there. I wish the BBC and the new DG well. The BBC will always be special to me.
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Neil Profile picture
21 Sep 20
The Government's chief medical and scientific officers made it clear that the prospect of 49,000 Covid cases /day by mid-October was not a prediction but an extrapolation. Even so, it's the scary figure they want us to take away from their presentation.
Much of the media has duly obliged. But Whitty/Vallance did not dwell on the presumptions behind that 49,000 stat: that cases are doubling every 7 days; and that they will continue to double every 7 days til mid-October. However ...
On the latest stats, cases are not doubling every 7 days. On Sept 13 there were 3,330 new cases; on Sept 20 there were 3,889. As for doubling every 7 days in the future, that remains to be seen. But government seems to think we're about 2/3 weeks behind France.
Read 5 tweets

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