THE First Minister has rejected complaints that her official spokesman broke the rules around moderation when he accused Unionists of "behaving like Donald Trump".
The Scottish Conservatives have said comments made by top spinner Stuart Nicolson “clearly went far beyond” the rules for special advisers, which require them to avoid “personal attacks” and avoid “political controversies”.
Alexander Burnett, the Tories’ chief whip in Holyrood, has written to Nicola Sturgeon and the Government’s top civil servant to complain about Nicolson’s “unfounded political accusations” against the SNP’s opponents during a press briefing in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict.
In her response, the First Minister said the Tory MSP's accusations were "entirely groundless" and claimed Nicolson had acted "entirely in line" with the code of conduct.
She wrote: "The comments in question were made by my senior political spokesperson at the usual media briefing that follows [First Minister's Questions] each week.
"The comments were entirely consistent with views I have previously expressed in relation to the stance of opposition parties following last year's Scottish Parliament election result and also reflected my response to the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court.
"It is of couse one of the principal functions of special advisers to represent the views of ministers to the media, including providing a political viewpoint.
"That is precisely what happened here. It is therefore beyond any doubt that the special adviser was acting entirely in line with the role as defined in the code of conduct and was doing so with my full authority.
"I therefore reject as entirely groundless your assertion that a breach of the code of conduct...has occured."
In the briefing, Nicolson accused Unionist politicians of acting like the disgraced former US president while backing comments made by the First Minister which painted the independence movement as Scotland’s “democracy movement”.
Speaking in Holyrood last week, Nicolson told reporters: “The only people behaving like Donald Trump are the Unionist politicians who are trying to pretend they won an election they lost.”
This was said in response to the suggestion by a journalist that the First Minister was behaving like Trump in her response to the court’s ruling to block indyref2.
The special adviser code of conduct states spokespeople “must not take public part in political controversies, through any form of statement whether in speeches or letters to the press”.
The Scottish Tories have said Nicolson’s comments are in breach of this rule and against another part of the code which requires spinners to “observe discretion and express comment with moderation, avoiding personal attacks”.
Another part of the exchange between Nicolson and reporters saw him say that “the word democracy is now being feted as a thought crime by unionist politicians”.
It came amid a flurry of accusations last week, in which both sides of the constitutional debate accused the other of employing the same tactics of the former president, who has repeatedly and falsely claimed without evidence that the election which ousted him was stolen and rigged.
Burnett said: “The ridiculous claims from the First Minister’s spokesperson clearly went far beyond what the code allows.
“They not only strayed into partisan and overtly political territory but accused opposition parties of being engaged in a denial of democracy – an extraordinary and entirely unfounded allegation.”
He added: “These comments went far beyond advocating the Scottish Government’s position and the requirements of discretion and moderation laid down.
“The First Minister should act to make it clear that advisers will stick within the rules, and that such immoderate and incendiary claims undermine the integrity of her Government.”
Nicolson said he was aware of the accusations.
