Peter Murrell's embezzlement of SNP funds represents a colossal fraud not only on the party and its supporters but on the Scottish public at large. The scale and audacity of the crime are mind-boggling, constituting an egregious breach of trust of enormous proportions.
It is hard to overstate the significance of this moment for nationalism and wider Scottish politics. This scandal emerged just days after the SNP secured its fifth consecutive Holyrood election victory. First Minister John Swinney will have been relieved that Monday's hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh occurred after the May 7 poll. Had it taken place before the vote, as originally scheduled, it would undoubtedly have had a major impact on the lacklustre campaign.
Scottish Labour is now calling for a review to determine why the public were 'denied the truth until the timing was more convenient for the SNP'. While this is a good idea, few expect it to happen swiftly.
We now know that the bureaucracy of a party that sought to convince us it could manage an independent state was run by a fraudster who raided its funds for over a decade. As a backdrop to the First Minister's desperate relaunch of the SNP's push for a second referendum later this week, the optics are, well, suboptimal.
The Scale of the Fraud
Peter Murrell has pleaded guilty to embezzling funds from the SNP. This was no petty pilfering; his ill-gotten gains amounted to more than £400,000, covering an astonishing array of goods, from jewellery and cosmetics to a £124,550 motorhome. The police seizure of that notorious vehicle, parked at Murrell's mother's home in Fife, was revealed by the Scottish Mail on Sunday in 2023 and remains the best-known exhibit, assuming an almost iconic status. Fittingly, the German manufacturer Niesmann+Bischoff advertises the Smove 7.4e as 'breaking all the rules'.
Detectives established that Murrell bought the motorhome with party cash and covered his tracks with false entries in the SNP's accounts. He did the same when purchasing a Jaguar I-Pace, keeping the proceeds when he later sold the car. Other items in the haul included £200 Fortnum & Mason advent calendars, £2,600 Lalique salt and pepper grinders, and £160 for a Folio Society edition of The Origins of Totalitarianism.
Disconnect Between Myth and Reality
One of the most striking facets of this grubby affair is the disconnect between the myths peddled by the SNP in government and the squalid reality of how the party was run. While taxes were being hiked, the leader's husband was helping himself to luxury goods beyond the reach of many SNP voters, some of whom were lured in by promises of an independent Scotland as a socialist nirvana.
The toxicity of having a married couple jointly run the SNP was a running sore for many years, with Alex Salmond among its critics. These concerns were batted away by Nicola Sturgeon, Murrell's estranged wife, and others, who insisted there was nothing to see. Sturgeon used to tweet images of supposed domestic bliss, painting Murrell as a put-upon homebody. In reality, for much of their married life, he was the architect of a jaw-dropping fraud that bankrolled a comfortable lifestyle.
A detailed study by the Mail of their household wealth in 2015 showed Sturgeon and Murrell enjoyed a combined yearly income of over £200,000, placing them in the top two per cent of earners in Great Britain. Yet that was not enough for Murrell, who kept stealing to accumulate more material wealth.
Political Fallout
This preening power couple were ultimately laid low by Murrell's avarice and his burning desire for a lifestyle he could not afford. Sturgeon quit as First Minister a few months before her arrest. She had previously issued reassurances that the party's finances were sound while she was leader, as seen in a video clip still in heavy circulation on social media. The leaked footage shows Sturgeon angrily insisting the SNP's coffers had 'never been stronger' during a March 2021 meeting of the party's ruling body, while warning members against airing concerns publicly.
While Sturgeon focused on her 'profound personal trauma' in a statement responding to Murrell's conviction, political opponents pointed to many unresolved questions. Dame Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, believes it is 'inconceivable that Nicola Sturgeon knew nothing about the large-scale fraud, which she benefitted from, taking place under her nose in both her party and her home'. Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said Murrell had 'finally taken the rap for being a thieving magpie' and had 'used vast sums of the stolen cash to feather the marital nest he shared with Nicola Sturgeon'.
It is important to note that Sturgeon was arrested but never charged in relation to the fraud uncovered by Police Scotland's long-running Operation Branchform, which has cost taxpayers over £2 million. Yet many feel fobbed off when the SNP or its acolytes tell us to draw a line under the whole sordid mess and accept that justice has run its course.
John Swinney's Response
John Swinney cannot hide from the repercussions. He spoke of his anger over an 'overwhelming betrayal' of 'dedicated activists', saying he was 'horrified' but 'resolute about the future'. Until now, he has been able to say he cannot comment because of the legal process, though he was tipped off by Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC about the case before the indictment became public. Bain announced earlier this month she would step down as Scotland's top law officer, though her officials insisted this had nothing to do with her back-channel communications with the First Minister.
Omerta will no longer wash, though Swinney's hapless predecessor, Humza Yousaf, struggled to hold the 'no comment' line during the investigation. In April 2023, he said he did not think the SNP was operating criminally, adding: 'No, certainly I don't believe it is at all, no' – a less than resounding endorsement of his party's propriety. Only a month before, Murrell had quit as SNP chief executive 'with immediate effect' ahead of a vote of no-confidence for misleading the media about party membership numbers – which now seems a comparatively minor transgression.
The SNP was run by a criminal who held his colleagues, supporters, and donors in contempt, thinking he was too clever to be caught. Anyone who bought into the Sturgeon/Murrell axis that dominated Scottish politics for so long, believing the SNP was in safe hands, was cruelly duped. But the reality is that all of us were taken for fools by a fraudster whose greed knew no bounds – while the party he managed told us repeatedly that it was worthy of our trust.
