AN SNP MSP has said that there appeared to be “collusion” between the police and the media to ensure prominent coverage of Nicola Sturgeon’s arrest.
Speaking to The News Agents podcast, the MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, James Dornan, said that the reporting of Sturgeon, Peter Murrell and Colin Beattie’s arrests was similar to that of the serial killer Fred West.
He said: “The issues of people being suspended before were about internal party matters where you could see that the behaviour was causing the party harm.
“There is nothing that Nicola has done that we know of that’s caused the party any harm.
Rishi Sunak and Humza Yousaf are two very different politicians but with one very similar problem: their predecessors. Following Nicola Sturgeon's arrest and release, @lewis_goodall travelled to Scotland to find out how party leaders deal with hangovers.@GlobalPlayer pic.twitter.com/ulkTXQG8eo
— The News Agents (@TheNewsAgents) June 14, 2023
“The fact that the media decided to make a big play of arresting the leader.
"The fact that the police and the media seem to have some kind of collusion about making sure the media are in attendance when the slightest thing happens, it’s like Fred West’s house, when they come to look for a paper trial.
“I don’t think that at a time like that that members of our party should be siding with those that look as if they want to do Nicola harm and not support her.”
Journalist Lewis Goodall then pressed Dornan on whether he believed the arrests of three senior figures in the SNP has caused harm to the party.
“Of course it’s causing harm. But what I’m saying is where does the information, where does the evidence come, that leads us to a point where those three should be arrested in the first place.”
It comes after SNP MSPs agreed to send the former first minister flowers “as a mark of sympathy” following her arrest on Sunday.
