Nicola Sturgeon has called on Alex Salmond to apologise for his past behaviour and admitted she felt let down by her old boss.
The First Minister is giving evidence today to a Holyrood committee investigating how the Scottish Government managed to botch its own internal complaints process – a mistake which ended up costing the taxpayer more than £500,000.
Two women had raised complaints against Salmond in 2018 dating to his time in the top job in Scottish politics and the government launched a probe.
Salmond denied the allegations and insisted the complaints process was biased against him – a claim vindicated in the civil courts in January 2019.
But Sturgeon told MSPs she felt “very let down” by the former first minister.
She said: “I have learned things about Alex Salmond over the past couple of years that have made me rethink certain things I thought about him. No doubt he would say the same about me.
“I’ve had to go through a process of reassessing all sorts of things around that.
“As I was watching him on Friday lashing out – that’s my words – against us, I don’t know whether he ever reflects on the fact that many of us, including me, feel very let down by him.
“That’s a matter of deep personal pain and regret for me.”
Appearing close to tears, Sturgeon added: “I think I probably should stop there.”
Asked by Murdo Fraser MSP if she owed the Scottish people an apology for having previously told them they should trust Salmond, Sturgeon said: “I trusted him and I am not going to apologise for the behaviour of somebody else.
“I do not think it’s reasonable to ask me to apologise for the behaviour of Alex Salmond.
“I think the only person who should apologise for behaviour on his part – which he was asked to do on Friday and failed to do – is Alex Salmond.”
