Alex Salmond took the advocate who worked on his legal challenge against the Scottish Government to his first meeting with Nicola Sturgeon about his sexual misconduct investigation, undermining her claim that it was a purely “party matter”.

The former First Minister was accompanied by Duncan Hamilton, who later worked as junior counsel on his judicial review, to the April 2 meeting at Ms Sturgeon’s Glasgow home.

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Ms Sturgeon last week withheld the name from MSPs, telling Holyrood merely that “Mr Salmond was represented” - her office then repeatedly refused to name who was involved.

The Herald:

Mr Hamilton’s presence was revealed by Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, who confirmed on Tuesday that he had brokered the meeting.

Mr Aberdein also said Ms Sturgeon’s chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, told him before the meeting, in late March, that she suspected Mr Salmond was being investigated by government officials.

The revelations are likely to spur opposition efforts to hold a Holyrood inquiry into the affair.

Mr Salmond won his judicial review against the government last week, forcing it to admit that it had botched the investigation of two sexual misconduct complaints against him.

The complaints, lodged in January 2018 but referring to 2013, were probed by an official who had already been in extensive contact with his accusers, tainting the process.

After the government’s investigation collapsed and left taxpayers with a £500,000 bill, Ms Sturgeon admitted she had three meeting and two calls with Mr Salmond while he was being investigated by her government, but insisted she did not interfere in the process.

She has referred herself to ethics watchdogs to determine is she broke the ministerial code.

Ms Sturgeon said she first learned of the probe when Mr Salmond told her himself on April 2.

She also insisted she met Mr Salmond in her capacity as SNP leader, not First Minister, despite the subject matter turning out to be a “government process”.

The meeting was not minuted and only reported to the government’s top official, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, two months later.

However her “party business” position has been weakened by further details of the contact.

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On Monday, the Scottish Government said an “intermediary” of Mr Salmond had talked with Ms Lloyd on March 6 and discussed sexual misconduct in the general context of #metoo.

It refused to name the person, but Mr Aberdein has now volunteered that it was him.

He also revealed that Mr Hamilton, a former SNP MSP and long-term adviser to Mr Salmond, had been at Ms Sturgeon’s home on April 2.

However he said Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon had talked in private.

Mr Aberdein said he and Ms Lloyd met on March 6 and in late March, both times at her request, when there had been discussions of misconduct complaints and Mr Salmond.

It is understood that on March 6 Ms Lloyd told Mr Aberdein that the media had been asking questions about potential misconduct by Mr Salmond since November 2017.

At the second meeting, Mr Aberdein said Ms Lloyd went further, saying she suspected the Scottish Government had received an official complaint against the former First Minister, although she did not know any details and had not informed the current First Minister.

When the conversations were relayed to Mr Salmond they were interpreted as an attempt by Ms Lloyd to put him off trying to return to elected politics - he lost his Westminster seat in June 2017- adding to the tension between Mr Salmond and his successor.

Mr Hamilton later worked on the judicial review Mr Salmond launched against the Scottish Government last August. The senior counsel was Ronnie Clancy QC.

In a statement, Mr Aberdein said: “As a longstanding associate and friend of Alex Salmond, I was the intermediary who acted for him in facilitating the meeting that took place at the First Minister’s home on Monday 2 April 2018.

“At his request, I attended along with Duncan Hamilton. Neither Duncan, Liz or I were party to the private conversation between Nicola and Alex.

“In the interests of transparency, this followed a request by Liz Lloyd, the First Minister’s Chief of Staff, to meet with me.

“This meeting, which took place on 6 March 2018, was an informal discussion between friends and any reference to Alex Salmond in that discussion was in the context of media enquiries made around the time.

“Liz later confirmed at a meeting between her and I in late March, again at her request, that she suspected the Scottish Government had received an official complaint about Mr Salmond. She made clear she did not know the full details of any potential complaint and had not alerted the First Minister to her suspicions about a potential complaint.

“I will not be making any further media comment on the issue.”

Ms Sturgeon’s office yesterday accused Mr Salmond’s friends of trying to “smear” her, after claims about her conduct and knowledge of the case appeared in the Murdoch press.

In a statement issued on Monday, her statement said: “This appears to be an attempt to smear the First Minister. Suggestions by Mr Salmond’s ‘insiders’ that the First Minister knew about the investigation before April 2 are not true.

“The suggestion put to Ms Sturgeon’s Chief of Staff by the Times, that she knew of complaints when she met someone who could be described as an intermediary for Alex Salmond on 6th March, is also not true.

“Given that issues around the First Minister's meetings with Mr Salmond have been referred to the Independent Advisers to consider, we will not comment further.

“At the heart of this matter remains the fact that complaints were made that could not be swept under the carpet – and the First Minister and Scottish Government will not say or do anything which might risk prejudicing the police investigation.”

The Scottish Government has been asked for comment on Mr Aberdein’s statement.