JOHN Swinney has been accused of “manufactured outrage” after complaining about a metaphor as his Government faces grave charges of abusing its power.

The deputy First Minister said it was not appropriate for a Tory MSP to say “a metaphorical gun” had been held to his head over legal advice on the Alex Salmond affair.

However presiding officer Ken Macintosh, who is quick to pounce on unparliamentary language, raised no objection to the phrase.

The row blew up as Mr Swinney was forced to answer an emergency question on the Government being forced to publish secret legal advice.

The Holyrood inquiry into the affair had urged the Government for months to release the legal advice behind its doomed defence of a civil action brought against it by Mr Salmond. 

Mr Swinney finally agreed last night, but only under the threat of a no confidence vote.

The Government’s top law officer, the Lord Advocate, told MSPs this morning he hadn’t been asked to consent to the release of the advice until yesterday.

Mr Swinney told the Holyrood chamber this afternoon he had not wanted to set a precedent by releasing legal advice normally kept secret by all governments.

However to maintain confidence in the parliament, government and the justice system, he had concluded that in the exceptional circumstances, the public interest favoured disclosure.

He said the Government would release some advice, including that of external counsel. 

Indicating the release would be partial, he said the release would “focus on providing information that charts the development of the judicial review, and specifically the changes in prospects that emerged during that process.”

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “This episode just demonstrates the contempt that this Government holds the Scottish Parliament in. 

“For months the committee has been calling for publication of the legal advice, there have been two votes in parliament last year calling for it to be published.

“And only now, at the very last moment, when there is a metaphorical gun is held to the head of the deputy First Minister and he is threatened with a vote of no confidence, does he finally agree to release some legal advice at the very last possible moment.”

He asked whether Mr Swinney would publish all the advice the inquiry wanted, or whether he would “continue to cover up the truth”.

Mr Swinney said: “If heard Mr Fraser correctly, and I may have misheard him, and if I do I will apologise, but I think he said that a gun had been metaphorically held to my head.

“Now, I don’t think, Presiding Officer, that’s appropriate terminology for one member of parliament to use to another.”

SNP MSPs applauded Mr Swinney’s complaint.

The deputy First Minister went on: “Neither did I think it was appropriate that some other Conservative MSPs expressed in some language  which I think is wholly inappropriate for one human being to express to another, to be expressed from one member of parliament to another. I will simply say that to get it off my chest.” 

The second reference appeared to be a dig at Tory MSP Adam Tomkins, who was criticised after calling Mr Swinney a “devious unscrupulous manipulative little man” on Twitter on Monday.

Mr Fraser replied: “I think, frankly, we can do without Mr Swinney’s manufactured outrage in this matter. He and his government have behaved disgracefully in this whole affair. 

“He should be apologising to the chamber for his conduct throughout this whole episode.”

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

The former First Minister had the exercise set aside in a a judicial review in January 2019, showing it had been “tainted by apparent bias” and getting £512,000 in legal costs.

Mr Salmond argues the Government prolonged its defence of the case unreasonably, wasting public money and in breach of the ministerial code.