A FORMER Scottish cabinet minister has claimed the SNP is “totally united” despite the extraordinary public feud raging between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
Alex Neil was likened to “Comical Ali” after the remark, a reference to the hopeless propagandist who denied Saddam Hussein was losing the Iraq War in 2003.
Mr Neil, a former Health Secretary under Ms Salmond, called last week for a public inquiry into the collapse of the Scottish Government’s sexual misconduct probe into his old boss.
The government’s admission that its investigation had been unfair unleashed a wave of briefings by sources close to Mr Salmond against Ms Sturgeon’s top official and aides.
On Monday, Ms Sturgeon claimed her predecessor’s allies were trying to “smear” her.
However Mr Neil, the MSP for Airdrie & Shotts, insisted all was well within his party.
He told BBC Radio Scotland there was no “civil war” in the SNP, although it was having a “sad episode”.
He said: “We have a highly respected former leader and highly respected leader, and clearly in relation to this matter they have had their differences, there's no doubt about that.
“We are certainly a totally united party - although this issue has to be resolved, one way or the other."
However senior SNP sources privately admitted that the breakdown in relations between Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon was unprecedented and harmful.
Mocking Mr Neil, one told the Herald: “He’s the new Comical Ali.”
The nickname for Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Comical Ali was the Iraqi propaganda minister who famously denied US tanks were in Baghdad amid the sounds of combat.
The Scottish Tories were also unconvinced and demanded a Holyrood inquiry into Ms Sturgeon’s conduct, including her meeting Mr Salmond while he was under investigation.
MSP Annie Well said: “It’s nothing short of remarkable to see Nicola Sturgeon and her mentor embark on this type of public warfare.
“The public deserve to know what Ms Sturgeon did and didn’t know about this, and what her most trusted staff member did and didn’t know.
“Only then can they assess the degree to which she got involved in a case she’s prohibited from meddling in.
“And worst of all, the two brave women at the heart of this campaign have to look on as their case is sidelined in the name of SNP civil war.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel