More tough days lie ahead for Swinney and SNP without answers to crucial questions over Murrell embezzlement
Without the SNP opening itself up to scrutiny over the Murrell scandal, the questions and the speculation will likely not go away.
It was meant to be a triumphant return to the chamber after the SNP’s election victory - but John Swinney spent the first FMQs of the new parliament trying to bat away awkward and ultimately unanswered questions about the Peter Murrell scandal.
Mr Swinney admitted on Monday that it was a “tough day” for the SNP after Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 of party funds - with a long list of extravagant and surreal purchases made with money donated to Scotland’s party of government. Without opening the party to more scrutiny over the episode, it is likely more tough days may lie ahead.
The SNP leader has been adamant that no parliamentary inquiry is necessary. His argument, that the police have carried out a thorough investigation, will do nothing to make demands for a Holyrood probe go away.
Responding at FMQs to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, the FM pointed to Police Scotland’s investigation that acknowledged a “lengthy and extremely complex case due to the scale of criminality”.
Mr Swinney believes that because police have thoroughly investigated Murrell’s criminality, there is nothing a Holyrood inquiry could possibly reveal.
“I don’t think there is anything a parliamentary inquiry can add to a five-year forensic police investigation”, he said.
It’s unlikely that the public will buy that argument.
As Mr Sarwar put it at FMQs, any Holyrood inquiry would “not look into the criminality”.
He added: “This inquiry is to look at the culture, the process and decision-making and lessons for the future.
“It’s to answer the many questions that the public has.”
It is hard not to agree and there are many questions that are yet to be tackled by Mr Swinney and the SNP.
Any inquiry would provide lessons for all political parties in Scotland to learn from, particularly at a time when trust in politics is in the doldrums. Being seen to avoid any scrutiny could be a big misstep by the SNP.
The SNP has been the party of government in Scotland for almost 20 years and obtains a vast amount of money, some of it from public sources. Surely that deserves scrutiny, given what has happened within the party for more than a decade.
There are a string of questions over the details of how Murrell was able to get away with his crimes for so long and why concerns raised by party members were seemingly shut down by those at the top.
Sceptics to the need for a Holyrood inquiry might feel opposition MSPs are merely salty about there being no high-profile trial where Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon are questioned.
But without the scrutiny that a Holyrood inquiry would provide, Mr Swinney and the SNP will continue to face questions they have, so far, not had adequate answers to.
“John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon didn’t stop Peter Murrell”, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay claimed at FMQs.
“They enabled him. Sturgeon warned SNP members to stop asking difficult questions and John Swinney assured everyone that their finances were sound.
“Their shield of protection gave Murrell a licence to steal.”
There is no tangible evidence to suggest that Ms Sturgeon or Mr Swinney are anyway implicated by the actions of Murrell. But without the SNP opening itself up to scrutiny, the questions and the speculation will likely not go away.