ON Aug 24 2021 then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was asked:
“Can you guarantee to the bereaved families that you will disclose emails, WhatsApps, private emails if you’ve been using them. Whatever. That nothing will be off limits in this inquiry?”
She replied: “I think if you understand statutory public inquiries you would know that even if I wasn’t prepared to give that assurance, which, for the avoidance of doubt, I am, then I wouldn’t have the ability. This will be a judge-led public inquiry.”
Two options arise:
Either:
Sturgeon lied at that on-the-record press conference in the summer of 2021 when she promised to disclose all WhatsApps, knowing she had already deleted them.
Or:
She was sincere in her pledge to disclose all WhatsApp messages, but for some reason proceeded to delete them later.
Either option is a full-blown politician scandal. Am I missing a third option?
Her successor Mr Yousaf is in the exact same position. So both the previous and the current First Ministers have some serious questions to answer. This is big.
What are they hiding?
Over 100 senior figures at the heart of Scottish Government are thought to have deleted thousands of WhatsApp messages during the Covid pandemic. UK Covid Inquiry has received no messages from SNP ministers or officials, despite requests. Looks like deletion of chats on private messaging apps by ministers and civil servants was on an industrial scale.