Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell denies plotting 'downfall' of Alex Salmond

“It’s not true, no. Of course it’s not true,” he told MSPs this morning.

He said the text messages were “out of character” and a once-in-40 year lapse in language caused by him being upset at the time after a sleepless night. 

The aggressive messages are seen by Mr Salmond’s supporters as evidence of a high-level plot to stop him making a political comeback and rivalling his successor.

Mr Murrell made the denial under oath as he gave oral evidence to the Holyrood inquiry into the Salmond affair this morning.

The cross-party inquiry is looking into how the Scottish Government botched a probe into sexual misconduct claims levelled against Mr Salmond in 2018.

Mr Salmond had it set aside in a judicial review, showing it had been “tainted by apparent bias” from the start, a flaw that left taxpayers with a £512,000 bill for his costs.

A short time after his civil case victory, the former first minister was charged with sexual assault in January 2019, leading to a criminal trial and acquittal on all counts in March this year.

Mr Murrell was grilled at length about two text messages he sent the SNP’s chief operating officer, Sue Ruddick, the day after Mr Salmond was charged.

These were later leaked to SNP MP Kenny MacAskill, who passed them to the inquiry.

The first said: "Totally agree folk should be asking the police questions… report now with the PF [procurator fiscal] on charges which leaves police twiddling their thumbs. 

“So good time to be pressurising them. Would be good to know Met looking at events in London.”

The second said: "TBH [to be honest] the more fronts he is having to firefight on the better for all complainers. 

“So CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] action would be a good thing.”

In his written evidence, Mr Murrell blamed his "shock, hurt and upset" at the criminal charges the day before for  expressing himself poorly.

However, asked to describe his relationship with Mr Salmond over more than 35 years, Mr Murrell today described it to MSPs as merely “professional”.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie put it to Mr Murrell: “There has been a suggestion that your text messages were evidence of a plot to ensure the downfall of Alex Slamond and that you had a key role in that. Is that true?”

Mr Murrell said that would make no sense, as by the time he sent the messages, Mr Salmond had already left the SNP and been charged with sexual assault.

He said: “The timeline would say no, because he had between charged by the time I sent those text messages. So all complainers had come froward by that point, and the police had charged him, and he’d appeared in court. So it’s not true, no. Of course it’s not true.” 

He did not address the possibility that the messages showed an ongoing hostility to Mr Salmond.

sked by Ms Baillie what he had meant by “pressurising” the police, Mr Murrell offered an excuse rather than explaining his intent.

He said: “The language I used I don’t think was appropriate.  

“It was pretty out of character, I would say for myself.

“I can only just explain that as being how upset I was that morning.

“But the reality and the context was that we were approached by people that morning who sought answer to questions that could only be answered by the police, whether that’s the police that had been allocated to take their statement or whatever - they should go back to the same police officers and seek the clarity they were looking for.”

Ms Bailie said: “But you are a man who has been in politics for four decades now. You are a man who is very careful with his language.

“Text messages invite you to be brief and invite you to be very clear about what you’re saying. Are you saying that for one day in 40 years you got it wrong?”

Mr Murrell replied: “Yes, I am. Because of what we were dealign with that morning and the previous day. We were all gutted by what we had seen roll out over the previous 24 hours. “Very flat, every emotional time for everybody in headquarters. It was very upsetting.

“So, yes, hand up, I would say the language is not appropriate and I do very much regret those words and I just put it down to the hurt.”

Asked earlier by Tory MSP Murdo Fraser about claims of a conspiracy, Mr Murrell said the SNP’s procedure hadn’t changed in 16 years barring the creation off an external reporting route after the MeToo revelations in late 2017.

Asked if he thought Mr Salmond had been “hard done by”, Mr Murrell said: “Complaints came forward that had to be investigated and looked at by political parties, by the Scottish Government, by the police. 

“Those are proper processes to have happened with concerns that are brought forward ot all of these institutions.” 

Asked whether he would welcome back Mr Salmond if he asked to rejoin the SNP tomorrow, Mr Murrell was cut off by SNP inquiry convener Linda Fabiani.

“That’s an inappropriate question, Mr Fraser,” she said. 

Ms Baillie said later: "Mr Murrell squirmed when confronted with his own words in his text messages, messages that concerned events about the Crown Prosecution Service in England, that were not disclosed publicly until months later.

“It’s all too clear that the boundaries between party and government and what is personal and professional have been eroded.

"The taxpayer has been made to foot the bill for a botched investigation that failed the complainers and looks like it was driven by a dangerous cocktail of vendetta and incompetence.”