PETER MURRELL’S embezzlement is but a symptom of the wider disease of Sturgeonism. It’ll be him alone when sentenced at the High Court but in the court of public opinion his former boss and spouse, Nicola Sturgeon, also stands accused.

It’s only the start of wider investigations into both this fraud and other actions by her and her acolytes. The House of Sturgeon’s burning down, and the flames are now licking at John Swinney’s new abode in Bute House.

Murrell’s sentence will be severe not just for the amount taken but the breach of trust.

After all a postie can face jail if they even just fail to deliver mail. Blame for the fraud rests only with him even if many wonder why neither Sturgeon nor the party treasurer were not on the indictment at least until his plea of guilty was finally tendered.

It certainly was standard practice, and I write that as a former defence agent of 20 years never mind justice secretary for seven-and-a-half years. Why that was not done only the Crown Office can answer.

There’s no doubt he fiddled figures and perhaps even falsified documents, but organisations have in-built safeguards, and the SNP was no different.

I also served as SNP national treasurer for several years in the 1990s. For sure it was a different world then with the party far smaller and a financial position of carrying a six-figure overdraft.

IT and cash room systems have also morphed. No more the cashroom assistant getting a taxi to my office for me to sign the staff’s wages. But those in charge whether the national treasurer, the party leader or the NEC all had and have powers and oversight. Duties, it should be said, not just powers.  

Those failures are down to Sturgeonism. Control freakery, autocracy and self-obsession rather than the cause or even the interests of members.

That the chief executive of a party, let alone the government party, was the spouse of the party leader and first minister was not just absurd but plain wrong, even a bowling club wouldn’t have the chief steward married to the president. But Sturgeon insisted on it. Why, only she can explain.

When individuals including one national treasurer sought to dig deep, they were blocked by Murrell and chastised by Sturgeon. There were no issues, she assured all, accusations were deeply damaging — and worse still, individuals were turned on and hounded out by her and her team.

I recall phoning the then national treasurer when suspicions first broke in the press. He assured me that the “money was threaded through the accounts.” A ludicrous phrase and unknown in even basic accountancy rules.

Of course, that’s not in any way indicative of any guilt or involvement in the crime of embezzlement. That national treasurer simply stands as a patsy and a fool. But both that and the extensive wider circumstances certainly see Sturgeon accused of an abuse of power and a manipulation of party and other levers available to her.

Why Murrell took the money we’ll probably never really know. Perhaps, a sense of entitlement as salary increases or even payments were forgone as party funds were down.

There was a previous issue with funds when he worked for Alex Salmond in Peterhead but that was dealt with internally and saw him moved on.

His appointment as SNP CEO was made by Swinney. He was never a pal, but he was very efficient at his job. I, like most, never queried it viewing the past issue as a minor indiscretion rather than the first sign of kleptomania. But I’ve met wicked and depraved people over my career and he wasn’t one.

I’ve known him and Sturgeon for almost 40 years and was even at their wedding. What I do recall is his joy at hooking up with her. He might cruelly be described as wee bald and paunchy which is why some of the items purchased through those embezzled funds sure weren’t for his own use.

He felt he’d punched well above his weight in marrying her and she was his princess.

He’d do anything for her and so history seems to show. I recall Salmond was irked that funds were kept back in the last few weeks of the referendum campaign rather than spending every last penny. But paying for the Glasgow hydro and other rock star type events for his beloved as she succeeded to the top posts had to be provided for.

In some ways I feel sorry for him though he has to pay the price for his sins. But while he’s rotting in prison, she’ll be away gallivanting though not in the EU or UN positions that so many seemed to think were bound to come her way. Instead she’s now rightly being scrutinised and even ridiculed. There’s nothing worse than being laughed at and social media is cruel.

After all she was “the selfie queen” unable to walk past a lamppost without stopping for a picture. Now she’s running from the press and their questions. Her reputation was largely made by Covid where her undoubted communications skills were to the fore and compared favourably with the bumbling Boris.

But now she’s shown to have spent hours in a police station refusing to comment. For sure that’s the advice I’d have given to a client, but she was a former first minister who promised candour and openness.

The focus now turns to her tenure and in particular her actions in Salmond’s prosecution. I’ve always said there was a conspiracy and that is given credence by this.

What Jeremy Corbyn endured was dreadful, but what Salmond suffered was criminal. The truth will out and Swinney who has been covering for her is now coming into the frame on both the Salmond case and the wider Sturgeon legacy.

Murrell will be sentenced soon and his prison door clang shut. But the exposure of Sturgeon’s sins are just beginning.

Kenny MacAskill was an SNP MSP from 1999-2016 and Scottish justice secretary from 2007-14. He was MP for East Lothian from 2019-24.