Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland, has resigned from the Scottish National Party (SNP). A party he once led after, a newspaper broke a story of sexual misconduct allegations towards him were published last week.
Mr Salmond, a proud member of the SNP, announced he was quitting the party on Wednesday evening amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies. And has stated he intends to apply to rejoin the party once he had an opportunity to clear his name.
Alex Salmond, who made the announcement on Twitter, denies the claims, and is taking the country’s government to court over its handling of the accusations against him.
— Alex Salmond (@AlexSalmond) August 29, 2018
Innocent until proven guilty
Mr Salmond hinted at various reasons for his resignation and he did suggest he has been vilified and been ostracized before having an opportunity to clear his name.
The former first minister has claimed the Scottish government has denied him the opportunity to properly defend himself against the claims, which relate to his alleged behavior at the first minister’s official Bute House residence, according to the Daily Record newspaper.
The Daily Record newspaper broke the news of the sexual misconduct allegations last Thursday.
The paper claims to have seen wording of one complaint which describes an incident alleged to have taken place at the first minister’s official residence in Edinburgh, Bute House, in the first week of December 2013.
Mr Salmond also hosts a show on RT News. Last week, In an interview with RT News he said that someone in the Scottish government had leaked the charges against him to the tabloids, damaging the confidentiality of the proceedings.
The Allegations against him
The two women lodged complaints in January this year, just weeks after the Scottish government adopted a new complaints procedure in the light of wider concern about sexual harassment at Holyrood and Westminster.
Mr Salmond has described the allegations as “patently ridiculous” and has begun legal action against the Scottish government over its handling of the claims.
The SNP had never received any complaints about his conduct, and the Scottish government only received a complaint this January, years after he left office, Salmond said. Putting his successor at the helm of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, to suspend him would have caused a rift within the party and opened it up to political attacks, he added.
The current SNP leader Ms Sturgeon said she “felt a huge sadness about the whole situation”.
The complaints against Mr Salmond have been passed to Police Scotland which has said it is assessing the information.
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