The SNP President who led independence campaigning from a ramshackle horse box admitted he was completely unaware the party had a luxury campervan that he could have used.
Veteran politician Mike Russell was given the job of heading up an ‘independence unit’ by Nicola Sturgeon in summer 2021 and promised a £600,000 budget. But Russell and fellow activists raised money to buy and renovate the horse box as a ‘mobile unit’ not knowing the party had access to a £110,000 luxury campervan, now at the centre of a police fraud investigation.
Leaked minutes handed to the Sunday Mail from the National Executive Committee meeting five months after the campervan was delivered to the home of the FM’s mother-in-law, reveal how she personally asked the 69-year-old ex MSP to take charge of the campaign. The meeting took place weeks before then CEO Peter Murrell lent the party £107,000 to help with “cash flow” issues and after police launched a probe into claims £600,000 of “ring fenced” party funds were missing.
