A powerful Holyrood committee has agreed to invite a former Police Scotland chief constable to give evidence over politically explosive claims the SNP Government blocked his return to work.

Phil Gormley is likely to be quizzed about allegations that political interference by former Justice Secretary Michael Matheson ended his chances of resuming his duties at the single force.

MSPs will also have a platform to ask him about suggestions that he was warned of "political problems" if a new deputy was not Scottish.

Graeme Pearson, the former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: "There are a lot of unanswered questions about this."

Gormley, the former deputy director of the National Crime Agency, was named as Police Scotland's chief constable in late 2015 following Sir Stephen House’s decision to stand down.

His tenure was marred by claims of bullying by staff, allegations that triggered an investigation by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.

In 2017, the Scottish Police Authority, which oversees the force, decided that Gormley could return to work and drafted a press release about his return.

However, the decision was reversed after Andrew Flanagan, the then SPA chair, informed Matheson about the move.

Flanagan later said that the former Justice Secretary, who now holds the Transport portfolio in the Cabinet, told him that Gormley’s return would be a “bad decision”, sparking a major row about alleged political interference in policing.

Gormley left the force in 2018 and was later named as an inspector of constabulary south of the Border.

It is understood Holyrood’s Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny (PAPLS) committee, which is conducting an ongoing probe into policing, has decided to invite Gormley as a witness.

The committee took evidence from Flanagan in January last year, and Matheson also faced parliamentary questioning around the same time, but Gormley has never addressed the PAPLS in person on the controversy.

The Herald on Sunday understands an invite will be issued and Gormley could take questions from MSPs within weeks.

One insider said the Government would be “nervous” about the prospect as they would have no influence on what the former chief constable would say.

The Herald:

Image: How the Sunday Herald broke the original story

However, correspondence that was sent to PAPLS after the Matheson intervention in 2017 gives an indication of Gormley’s dim view of the Government's behaviour.

In one email, Gormley’s lawyer wrote to Flanagan about the SPA u-turn.“My client was pleased with the decision of the [SPA] Board but concerned that his return was delayed following intervention by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice,” he wrote.

“I have advised my client that any intervention by the Scottish Ministers to reverse the Board's decision is ultra vires and unlawful. This decision is solely a matter for the SPA, as the statutory body tasked with the operational deployment of my client as Chief Constable.”

He added: “In the meantime, I must reserve my client's legal rights to challenge any failure to implement the Board's decision by way of application for judicial review should this be necessary.”

The lawyer also complained directly to Matheson: “This unanimous decision of the SPA Board is a matter of record and, despite recent press reports, it was not a unilateral decision of the current Chair, Andrew Flanagan.

“My client was therefore surprised to have been informed late on the afternoon of 9 November that, following your apparent intervention, he should not report back to work, despite the Board's unanimous decision.”

The Committee will also be able to ask Gormley about suggestions, first aired by his wife, that his nationality had been an issue while he was chief constable.

In a newspaper article, she defended her husband over the bullying allegations and wrote: “It is very easy to attack an outsider. Phil doesn’t have a Scottish accent, he was born in Surrey, not Stirling.”

Another newspaper report alleged that Gormley was warned of “political problems” if a Scottish candidate was not hired as one of his deputies.

Gormley claimed the matter had come up during a discussion with Flanagan about a vacant post for a deputy chief constable.

In a document, Gormley reportedly stated: “He [Flanagan] indicated that the Scottish Government were party to these concerns. As a senior officer of English national origin myself, this concerned me. The national origin of any candidate (from within the United Kingdom) should have no bearing on the selection process.

“This issue and the very mention of the national origin of senior officers gave rise to an inference that issues of race may be at play in relation to my own position at Police Scotland and the difficulties I have faced there.”

Gormley has always denied the bullying allegations. The Scottish Government declined to comment.