KENNY MacAskill has been branded “unfit for office” by a leader of the SNP’s student wing after claiming ‘dark forces’ were at work in the Alex Salmond trial.

The former Justice Secretary, now the SNP MP for East Lothian, also claimed Mr Salmond’s lawyer may have been the victim of a conspiracy against the former First Minister.

Gordon Jackson QC quit as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates shortly after Mr Salmond’s trial when a video emerged of him appearing to name two of his client’s accusers on a train.

A court order had granted the women anonymity for life. 

Writing about the case in the new issue of the Scottish Left Review, Mr MacAskill said: “The poison that had flowed before and even during the trial has continued unabated. 

“Amongst their victims was Gordon Jackson QC whose real ‘crime’ seems to have been to have represented Salmond. 

“The manner in which he was brought down seems more than accidental.. It certainly seems that, as well as the poison and prejudice of a few, there were other ‘dark forces’ operating.”  

READ MORE: MacAskill says ‘dark forces’ were at work in Salmond trial

Chris Duffy, national secretary of SNP Students, said Mr MacAskill’s remarks showed “a level of delusion that should mark him as unfit for office”.

He tweeted: “I'm sure his constituents will be thrilled to hear that he has absolutely no faith in the Scottish Criminal Justice system because credible accusations were made against his mate.

“Mr MacAskill would do well to remember that he's an MP and thus should not be involved in flights of fantasy if he wants to be taken seriously by his colleagues, constituents and those he interacts with on their behalf. 

“If he wants to do conspiracy theories he should start a blog.”

Mr Salmond was acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault at the High Court in Edinburgh last month, and is now writing a book which will air evidence he could not present in court.

His friends claim he was the victim of a plot within the Scottish Government and SNP to stop him returning to frontline politics and rivalling Nicola Sturgeon.

In his SLR article, Mr MacAskill said senior figures in the SNP and Scottish Government wanted Mr Salmond’s head “on a platter” and had tried to engineer his disgrace.

He criticised the Crown Office for bringing charges he considered “utter bunkum” and the police for mounting an investigation of “gargantuan proportions” while simultaneously complaining about a squeeze on their budgets.

The phrase “dark forces” was famously attributed to the Queen after the death of Princess Diana in 1997, and fuelled conspiracy theories about foul play in the car crash that killed her and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed in a Paris underpass.

Royal butler Paul Burrell, who first claimed the Queen had said it to him, later retracted it.

However it is still used about the security services and other shadowy arms of the state.

Labour and the Tories have accused Mr MacAskill of paranoia and peddling conspiracy theories better suited to the murkier corners of the internet. 

Mr MacAskill’s intervention coincides with another of Mr Salmond’s supporters floating the idea of a new independence party to replace the SNP.

Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars said the former FM’s book would be like a “volcanic eruption” for those at the top of the SNP, and that the “rot” inside the party may be so bad that the Yes movement may need to set up a new party in it place.

The comments suggest Ms Sturgeon faces a manor political battle with her predecessor once the coronavirus crisis has abated.