Nicola Sturgeon’s chief of staff is the subject of a “vendetta” by allies of Alex Salmond, the First Minister’s official spokesman has said.
The spokesman said Liz Lloyd, who has been Ms Sturgeon’s top aide for four years, was the subject of briefings by the “other side” in a public feud with the former First Minister.
READ MORE: Alex Salmond took lawyer to sex probe meeting with Nicola Sturgeon
It followed Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff saying Ms Lloyd told him last March that she suspected the Government had received an official complaint about Mr Salmond.
Geoff Aberdein said his successor also told him she did not know any specifics and that she had not informed the First Minister of her suspicion.
Two women accused Mr Salmond in January 2018 of sexual misconduct related to alleged incidents in 2013.
Mr Salmond won a judicial review of the way the government investigated the claims last week, showing it had been unfair.
In the aftermath, Mr Salmond’s allies have not hidden their animosity towards Ms Lloyd.
One described her to The Herald as “the executioner”, and claimed she had wanted to deter Mr Salmond from attempting a return to frontline politics.
Confirming the toxic atmosphere, Ms Sturgeon’s spokesman told the media on Tuesday: “Quite clearly there is an agenda at play here in terms of Liz’s involvement.
“That has been made abundantly clear by what has been briefed by the other side.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon asked about apparent 'smears' from Alex Salmond's team
Opponents said it added to the impression of a bunker mentality at the top of government.
On Monday, the First Minister accused friends of Alex Salmond of trying to “smear” her by feeding inaccurate claims to the press.
Ms Sturgeon's spokesman refused to elaborate on Mr Aberdein's account or explain how Ms Lloyd came to arrive at her suspicion about an official complaint.
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