An SNP councillor was rejected as a party candidate after he was asked whether he had taken sides in the dispute between First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond.
Chris McEleny, a political ally of the former SNP leader, was quizzed amid claims of “irreparable splits” between the pair.
It is understood he was told that the question had come from someone who was not a member of the vetting panel. He did not respond to a request for a comment.
Relations between Sturgeon and her predecessor as First Minister have been poor after the SNP Government launched an investigation into claims of sexual misconduct against Salmond
READ MORE: SNP members support new currency as soon as practicable
The internal probe was ultimately overseen by Leslie Evans, the permanent secretary of the Scottish Government, and the findings were handed over last year to the police.
However, Salmond believed the handling of the probe was flawed and biased, and he pursued a judicial review.
Salmond won the case in January after the Government admitted it had behaved unlawfully.
Speaking outside the Court of Session at the time, Salmond, who is no longer an SNP member, said the outcome had been an "abject humiliation" for Sturgeon’s Government.
He added: "The last time I was in that court was to be sworn in as first minister of Scotland. I never thought it possible that at any point I would be taking the Scottish government to court.
"Therefore while I am glad about the victory which has been achieved today, I am sad that it was necessary to take this action.”
Salmond also repeated his call for Evans - the main focus of his criticism - to quit her post. However, Sturgeon defended Evans by saying she had “full confidence” in her, adding that the internal Government process was wrong in “one” aspect.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour meltdown over leaked European election messages
The two Nationalist heavyweights are also believed to be at odds over the strategy for pursuing independence, with Salmond impatient for a second referendum.
It can now be revealed that the bad blood spilled out into the party candidate selection process for the European elections.
McEleny, a former depute leadership candidate who is in charge of the SNP group on Inverclyde Council, was interviewed as a potential candidate and made the long list, but he never made the final cut.
A party insider said McEleny, who has appeared on Salmond’s RT television programme, was asked about him and Sturgeon in a February interview:
“It was put to him that he had had chosen a side over Alex and Nicola. The person who asked said it had been put to them by someone else.”
The source added: “Chris said it was an inappropriate question and did not answer it.”
READ MORE: Alex Salmond had £120,000 company assets at time of legal fundraiser
Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: “This row will reopen the irreparable splits in the SNP between the Salmond and Sturgeon camps.
“This is a party riven by divisive egos, as this selection and the subsequent fallout proves. The SNP cares only about breaking up Britain and their own precious egos – and nothing about the running of the country it’s meant to be governing.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "It is becoming clear that the SNP are a deeply divided party over a whole host of issues."
The SNP did not respond to a request for a comment.
In January, Salmond appeared in court charged with two counts of attempted rape, nine of sexual assault, two of indecent assault and one breach of the peace.
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 here