John Swinney refuses to apologise to 'bullied' SNP whistleblowers
The First Minister was accused of being in a state of ‘denial’
John Swinney has refused to apologise to two SNP whistleblowers who claim they were bullied after raising concerns about the party’s finances.
Allison Graham and Cynthia Guthrie spoke out after Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, was jailed for more than five years for embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
They quit the SNP’s finance and audit committee in 2021 and say they were “bullied” by Ms Sturgeon and other senior figures in what they described as a “very toxic environment”.
Alongside a third committee member, Frank Ross, who also quit, they had sounded the alarm over a lack of financial transparency.
Speaking to journalists in Holyrood, Ms Guthrie said the First Minister was in a state of “denial”.
Raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions earlier, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay accused Mr Swinney of being the “king of the SNP cover-up”.
He said: “The truth is Peter Murrell should never have been free to commit these crimes.
“Members of the SNP finance and audit committee blew the whistle but they were bullied into quitting after being refused access to basic information.
“John Swinney twice went on to the BBC to say that his party’s finances were completely sound.
“He was at the heart of the cover-up, then and now, and that is why he is terrified of an inquiry.”
Mr Swinney responded: “The comments Russell Findlay makes about me are baseless, utterly and totally baseless.”
He insisted no further investigation is needed into the circumstances surrounding Murrell’s crimes as a lengthy police investigation has already taken place.
Mr Swinney also said that since taking over as SNP leader he had “addressed the issues in the SNP’s finances, and the SNP has got strong governance in place”.
The First Minister was later asked by journalists if he would apologise to Ms Graham and Ms Guthrie, who are no longer SNP members.
“I gave an answer which said that I had apologised to all party members for all that had been handled here,” he said.
He added: “I apologised to party members who are the ones who have got a legitimate interest in this, because they are the ones who had money stolen from them. They are the victims.”
Asked if he believed Ms Sturgeon and other senior party members were bullies, he said: “No, I don’t.”
Mr Swinney said it was “nonsensical” for there to be an inquiry into the SNP, as it was the victim of Murrell’s crime.
Speaking to journalists, Ms Guthrie, who was in the Holyrood chamber during FMQs, said she was not surprised by the lack of apology, “because that’s how they got into the mess in the first place”.
She accused Mr Swinney of “hubris” and “denial”, adding: “Scotland deserves so much better than this.
“I believe in an independent Scotland and want an independent Scotland, and this isn’t good enough and John has to step up to the plate, grow some and start leading the country. It’s unsustainable.”
Ms Guthrie called for a KC-led inquiry into the scandal.
“They are in a bubble,” she said of the SNP. “They are in cognitive dissonance.
“Nicola Sturgeon is rewriting history and she is creating a persona and a new life for herself, and everything that’s gone before is in the past, that’s what they are telling us. All in the past, nothing to see here.”
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