1/
🧵Things I now believe to be true.
Scotland has not just watched a party finance scandal. It has watched the state, the party machine and the prosecution system close ranks in real time.
The public were expected to notice nothing.
Unfortunately for them, we did.
🧵Things I now believe to be true.
Scotland has not just watched a party finance scandal. It has watched the state, the party machine and the prosecution system close ranks in real time.
The public were expected to notice nothing.
Unfortunately for them, we did.
2/
I now believe Peter Murrell was allowed to become the useful container for a much bigger scandal.
One man. One plea. One neat little box.
How convenient.
The trouble is that the stench does not fit inside the box.
I now believe Peter Murrell was allowed to become the useful container for a much bigger scandal.
One man. One plea. One neat little box.
How convenient.
The trouble is that the stench does not fit inside the box.
3/
I now believe the plea deal was designed to prevent sunlight.
A full trial would have asked the questions the SNP, the Crown Office and half of Edinburgh’s political class plainly do not want asked.
Who knew? Who benefited? Who covered? Who lied?
I now believe the plea deal was designed to prevent sunlight.
A full trial would have asked the questions the SNP, the Crown Office and half of Edinburgh’s political class plainly do not want asked.
Who knew? Who benefited? Who covered? Who lied?
4/
I now believe the removal of certain items from the calculations is one of the most revealing parts of the whole affair.
When the purchases most politically embarrassing to Nicola Sturgeon vanish from the final arithmetic, people do not need law degrees to understand the problem.
I now believe the removal of certain items from the calculations is one of the most revealing parts of the whole affair.
When the purchases most politically embarrassing to Nicola Sturgeon vanish from the final arithmetic, people do not need law degrees to understand the problem.
5/
I now believe Nicola Sturgeon may escape legal consequence while suffering something worse for a politician like her: permanent public disbelief.
She can say she knew nothing.
Millions will now hear only one thing:
Of course you didnae, hen.
I now believe Nicola Sturgeon may escape legal consequence while suffering something worse for a politician like her: permanent public disbelief.
She can say she knew nothing.
Millions will now hear only one thing:
Of course you didnae, hen.
6/
I now believe John Swinney is avoiding any inquiry because he knows perfectly well where it will lead.
An inquiry would not stop at Peter Murrell’s bank statements.
It would walk straight into SNP headquarters, ministerial offices and every room where people were told to shut up.
I now believe John Swinney is avoiding any inquiry because he knows perfectly well where it will lead.
An inquiry would not stop at Peter Murrell’s bank statements.
It would walk straight into SNP headquarters, ministerial offices and every room where people were told to shut up.
7/
I now believe Scotland has watched the meaning of “ring-fenced” rewritten in real time.
Donors thought it meant money kept aside for a specific purpose.
The SNP appears to have treated it as a flexible accounting mood.
And the Crown Office seems content to let that definition stand.
I now believe Scotland has watched the meaning of “ring-fenced” rewritten in real time.
Donors thought it meant money kept aside for a specific purpose.
The SNP appears to have treated it as a flexible accounting mood.
And the Crown Office seems content to let that definition stand.
8/
I now believe the Lord Advocate’s role is now a public confidence disaster.
The country’s chief prosecutor should not be updating the First Minister on a politically explosive criminal case involving the SNP’s former chief executive.
That arrangement is rotten.
I now believe the Lord Advocate’s role is now a public confidence disaster.
The country’s chief prosecutor should not be updating the First Minister on a politically explosive criminal case involving the SNP’s former chief executive.
That arrangement is rotten.
9/
I now believe Police Scotland wanted Nicola Sturgeon charged.
And I believe COPFS could not stomach the spectacle of two former SNP First Ministers being dragged into court while the SNP still governed Scotland.
So here we are.
I now believe Police Scotland wanted Nicola Sturgeon charged.
And I believe COPFS could not stomach the spectacle of two former SNP First Ministers being dragged into court while the SNP still governed Scotland.
So here we are.
10/
I now believe large parts of Scotland’s media owe the public an apology.
The people asking awkward questions were sneered at for years while respectable journalists waited for permission to notice the obvious.
Astonishing bravery. Eventually.
I now believe large parts of Scotland’s media owe the public an apology.
The people asking awkward questions were sneered at for years while respectable journalists waited for permission to notice the obvious.
Astonishing bravery. Eventually.
11/
I now believe the SNP’s culture is rotten from the inside.
Secrecy. Control. Bullying. Loyalty tests. Smearing critics. Treating scrutiny as treason.
The finance scandal did not fall from the sky. It grew in exactly the soil they spent years cultivating.
I now believe the SNP’s culture is rotten from the inside.
Secrecy. Control. Bullying. Loyalty tests. Smearing critics. Treating scrutiny as treason.
The finance scandal did not fall from the sky. It grew in exactly the soil they spent years cultivating.
12/
I now believe Nicola Sturgeon’s political legacy is finished.
The book tours, the soft-focus interviews, the stateswoman routine - all of it now has a motorhome parked across it.
She wanted history to remember her as Scotland’s conscience.
Good luck with that.
I now believe Nicola Sturgeon’s political legacy is finished.
The book tours, the soft-focus interviews, the stateswoman routine - all of it now has a motorhome parked across it.
She wanted history to remember her as Scotland’s conscience.
Good luck with that.
13/
I now believe Scotland has an institutional corruption problem.
Maybe not brown envelopes in car parks.
Something more Scottish. More polite. More managerial.
A system where the right people are protected, the wrong questions are buried and the public are treated as thick.
I now believe Scotland has an institutional corruption problem.
Maybe not brown envelopes in car parks.
Something more Scottish. More polite. More managerial.
A system where the right people are protected, the wrong questions are buried and the public are treated as thick.
15/
And above all, I now believe this:
The scandal is no longer just what Peter Murrell did.
The scandal is what Scotland’s institutions appear willing to do to make sure the public never gets the full story.
And above all, I now believe this:
The scandal is no longer just what Peter Murrell did.
The scandal is what Scotland’s institutions appear willing to do to make sure the public never gets the full story.
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