NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged to take action against her chief of staff amid claims her social media use includes multiple breaches of the code of conduct for special advisers.
Scottish Conservative chief whip Miles Briggs MSP last week raised concerns Liz Lloyd had made a political attack against Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Twitter.
Now the Tories say they have been alerted to "more than 100 similar breaches by the First Minister’s chief of staff".
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon's top aide deletes Tweet after code of conduct complaint
Last week's tweet by Ms Lloyd came as Mr Johnson visited Scotland.
She wrote on her personal Twitter account: “My family don’t live in Scotland, I’ve not been able to visit them since August (and some since 2019) because it’s important we stay at home and don’t travel.
“Yet the PM is coming to Scotland when he could see the vaccine roll out and thank the army by zoom #notessential.”
She later deleted the tweet.
The Scottish Government’s Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, which is enforced by the First Minister, bans statements on “political controversy”, including on social media.
Mr Briggs said: “The chief of staff to Nicola Sturgeon is a well-paid civil servant on the public payroll.
"We raised concerns about one of her recent tweets because it was a flagrant breach of the code of conduct which rightly prohibits civil servants from peddling party political views.
“We have yet to hear Ms Sturgeon’s response, but having deleted the offending tweet, Ms Lloyd seems to have conceded that she has committed misconduct.
"One breach is bad enough but we now discover this to be the tip of the iceberg and that she has a long-running pattern of spouting SNP views in public.
"Our civil service cannot become a guerrilla wing of the SNP propaganda unit.
"Ms Sturgeon is quick to deal with her internal enemies but a strong leader would also take the right action when their inner circle over serious wrongdoing such as this."
The latest tweets highlighted by the Tories include one sent in January last year relating to the idea of a Scottish visa, in which Ms Lloyd wrote: "From their initial reaction it seems Boris Johnson and the Tories intend for stay deaf to Scotland’s interests. It would be very sensible for them to have a rethink."
A tweet in September attacking the UK Internal Market Bill read: "So the Tories admit to breaking international law at lunchtime and go on to try and break devolution in the evening. I imagine they consider that a good day in the office."
And a tweet in September 2019, referring to a picture of Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg slouching in the Commons, read: "This picture sums up so much of the last three years - Tory contempt and arrogance."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Paragraph 12 of the code of conduct makes very clear that special advisers ‘are able to represent Ministers’ views with a degree of political commitment that would not be possible for other civil servants’."
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