A FORMER SNP minister has reiterated calls for Nicola Sturgeon’s husband to quit as the party’s chief executive.
Kenny MacAskill said it was time for Peter Murrell, who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the SNP, to “move on”.
It came as the ex-Justice Secretary launched an attack on the “cack-handed” way the Scottish Government handled sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond.
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Mr MacAskill told ITV Border: “I’m a friend of Alex. I’ve had my arguments with him as people have portrayed.
“But we go back a long way – we actually go back to going to school together, even although he’s a few years older.
“So I’m a friend, and you stand by your friends. And I think that the actions of the Government, as the courts decided, were cack-handed and indeed wrong.”
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Mr MacAskill, who was Justice Secretary between 2007 and 2014, has been a high-profile critic of the current SNP leadership.
He previously claimed a puritanical inner circle were “driving out” anyone seen as a threat to Nicola Sturgeon.
Speaking to ITV, he said the party’s current set up – with Ms Sturgeon and her husband taking the two key roles – wouldn’t be allowed to happen in any other walk of life.
He said: “It wouldn’t happen in the media, it wouldn’t happen in charity, it wouldn’t happen in business, it wouldn’t happen in the public sector.
“And I don’t think it does the SNP any good. Both are outstanding individuals, both I know, both have contributed greatly.
“You’re not going to lose the First Minister, so I think the time has now come for the chief executive to move on.
“He’s got a lot of talent. His talents will be wanted elsewhere.
“But it’s time for there to be a separation, so the party chief executive is there for all the party, and there isn’t any suggestion that he’s there for his spouse.”
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