ANDREW Flanagan’s downfall as chair of the Scottish Police Authority was rooted in the watchdog’s paranoia about negative media coverage.
When the former chief executive of the Scottish Media Group took over in 2015, the SPA’s reputation was in need of repair.
An organisation set up to hold Police Scotland to account had been heavily criticised for its poor scrutiny of the single force on stop and search and armed policing.
His predecessor, Vic Emery, also departed in controversial circumstances after concerns were raised about him to the Scottish Government. Mr Flanagan was brought in to sort out the mess.
As a former high-profile figure in the media world - SMG used to own The Herald - Mr Flanagan knew the damaging effect of newspaper coverage.
A long-standing frustration for the SPA was that board papers were published days in advance of a meeting, which figures at the watchdog believed gave newspapers the chance of an easy run of stories.
When Justice Secretary Michael Matheson asked Mr Flanagan to carry out a review of SPA governance, he and his colleagues took the opportunity to lance the boil.
However, not only did the watchdog restrict the publication of board papers until the day of a meeting, but the SPA decided to move from public to private committees.
The direction of travel was clear: vital discussions on the future of policing were being taken ‘in-house’ and transparency was seen as a threat.
After founding board member Moi Ali dissented from both proposals in December, Mr Flanagan made the error that would lead to his resignation.
Instead of recognising Ms Ali’s legitimate right to speak out, Mr Flanagan sent her a terrible letter in which he criticised her and suggested she could no longer attend committee meetings.
She quit and the contents of Mr Flanagan’s dodgy letter attracted the attention of MSPs who believed Ms Ali had been wronged.
An earlier mistake on the same subject then came to light. Derek Penman, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, had criticised the secrecy proposals in a letter to the chair.
However, although the communication was intended to be shared with board colleagues, Mr Flanagan kept it to himself.
A picture had emerged of Mr Flanagan as a control freak who was hostile to openness. It was another open goal that MSPs booted the ball into.
By May, two powerful Holyrood committees had made serious criticisms of Mr Flanagan and the Justice Secretary was said to be unhappy.
The only question about his departure was when, not whether, he would resign. Mr Flanagan was never going to quit in the middle of a general election; instead, he walked six days after the polls closed.
The SPA has now lost two chairs since 2013 and the body gives the impression of being an organisation that is not fit for purpose.
Although the SPA was created to scrutinise Police Scotland, the watchdog’s own performance has become the story.
The irony of Mr Flanagan’s departure is that a man who made his name at a TV and newspaper company was brought down over a fear of publicity.
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