NICOLA Sturgeon's office initially tried to limit her oral evidence to the Alex Salmond inquiry, sources have told the Herald, despite her boasting MSPs could grill her for as long as they liked.

The First Minister said yesterday: “There is no reason I can’t sit before that committee, answer questions, fully, in detail, openly, for as long as the committee wants.”

However inquiry sources say her officials wanted her testimony to be just three hours, less than the time allotted to Mr Salmond.

They said she needed time to prepare for the weekly Covid update at Holyrood, even though this has been delegated to other ministers twice this year already. 

The sources said there was considerable “push back” on the inquiry to the suggestion.

Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly said she is looking forward to rebutting the claims of conspiracy and lying to parliament made against her by her predecessor.

The disagreement happened last week, when Mr Salmond was due to give evidence on Tuesday, February 23 and Ms Sturgeon was due to give hers on Tuesday, March 2.

Ms Sturgeon’s office argued she should give evidence from 9am until noon, as she would need to work on the parliamentary Covid-19 update around 230pm.

However some MSPs raised objections, as Ms Sturgeon has missed the Holyrood updates before.

Of the seven so far this year, Ms Sturgeon has given five, and Education Secretary John Swinney and Transport Secretary Michael Matheson have given one each.

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In the event, Mr Salmond cancelled his February 23 appearance after some of his evidence was censored by parliament on the advice of the Crown Office, upsetting the timetable.

He is due to give evidence tomorrow from 1230 to 430pm, while Ms Sturgeon is due to give her evidence to the inquiry next Wednesday.

She is now scheduled to give evidence for around five hours, from 9 to 2pm.

The move to Wednesday means her appearance coincides with the UK budget, meaning she may avoid some of the media glare.

An inquiry source said: “The First Minister often evades questions in parliament about the Salmond inquiry, saying that she will answer any question only to the committee.

“At the same time, she provides a running commentary and calls press conference whenever it suits her.

“To learn that we might have to fit around her run-of-the-mill parliamentary schedule calls into question just how fulsome she he willing to be with us.”

The inquiry is looking at how the Scottish Government bungled a probe into sexual misconduct claims made against Mr Salmond in 2018.

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He had the exercise set aside in a judicial review, showing it was “tainted by apparent bias”, a Government flaw that left taxpayers with a £512,000 bill for his costs.

He was later charged with sexual assault but cleared of all counts at a High Court trial last March.

He has claimed the prosecution was driven by people close to Ms Sturgeon who resented his victory in the civil case and wanted to damage him and remove from public life, "even to the extent of having me imprisoned".

Asked about the meeting scheduled for March 2, the Scottish Goverment tried to talk about March 3 instead.

A spokesperson said: "These claims are categorically untrue. The First Minister’s office initially offered a five-hour slot for the First Minister to give evidence next Wednesday, from 9am to 2pm.”