LABOUR last night accused Alex Neil of breaching the ministerial code over his appointment of an official from his local SNP branch to a £12,000-a-year NHS post.
The former Health Secretary promoted Scotrail manager Phil Campbell to the vice-chair of NHS Lanarkshire last November instead of social work expert Dr Avril Osborne.
Campbell is secretary of the SNP branch in Neil's Airdrie & Shotts constituency.
Neil, who has since become Social Justice Secretary, strongly defended the appointment last week, telling the Sunday Herald that Campbell was simply the best person for the job.
Neil also said he had expected a political row over Campbell's promotion, saying: "I knew it would be controversial because the Labour Party would kick up a stink."
Labour did indeed say the appointment "stinks of cronyism and jobs for the boys".
However, despite expecting controversy, Neil did not consult the First Minister - then Alex Salmond - before making the appointment, as described in the Scottish Ministerial Code.
Section 5.1 of the Code says ministers have a duty to ensure that influence over public appointments "is not abused for partisan purposes".
Section 5.9 also states ministers "must" consult the First Minister "about any appointment which is likely to have political significance", including "local or regional appointments [which] may from time to time excite an unusual amount of public interest because of the circumstances surrounding the appointment or the background of the candidate".
Pamela Nash, the Labour MP for Airdrie & Shotts, yesterday wrote to Nicola Sturgeon asking her to investigate whether Neil broke the code, which is policed by the First Minister.
Nash wrote: "I believe that Mr Neil's failure to consult on this appointment is a breach of the ministerial code.
"I would therefore be grateful if you could investigate this matter and reply as soon as possible, detailing what action you plan to take if he has breached the code.
"The NHS is our most important public service and it cannot be left open to attacks of cronyism."
In an added dig, Nash ended her letter by referring to Sturgeon's appointment of an SNP researcher to the board of NHS Tayside when she was health secretary before Neil.
"I would be grateful if you could advise me if you consulted with the then-First Minister when you appointed SNP researcher Matthew Landsburgh to the board of NHS Tayside," Nash said.
There is no automatic sanction for breaching the ministerial code.
However if the First Ministerial decided Neil had committed a breach, it would signal a loss of confidence and possibly lead to his sacking from the cabinet.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We have received Ms Nash's letter and will respond in due course.
"The appointment was the confirmation of a proposed vice chair identified by the chair of NHS Lanarkshire - not a new appointment or a reappointment. As a result it was not necessary to consult the First Minister under the requirements of the Scottish Ministerial Code."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article