Thank you for joining our coverage of Alex Salmond's six-hour evidence session. Here are the main points:

• Alex Salmond had "no doubt" First Minister Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code as he contradicted evidence from her over key meetings.
• He called on the head of Scotland's civil service, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, to resign and said the head of the prosecution service, the Lord Advocate, should consider his position.
• The former first minister alleged a "malicious scheme" among senior SNP figures to damage his reputation, although he said he had no evidence Ms Sturgeon was part of this.
• The committee has been "systematically deprived of the evidence it has legitimately sought" in its inquiry, Mr Salmond said, adding there was "deliberate suppression of information inconvenient to the government".
• Mr Salmond told MSPs that the name of a woman who had made complaints about him had been shared at a meeting with one of his aides.
• The former first minister claimed a leak to the Daily Record newspaper, which broke news of the allegations against him, was "politically inspired" and he called for the police to act.
• He declined to directly apologise for his own behaviour when asked, instead pointing to being cleared at the criminal trial and his victory in a civil case.
• Mr Salmond said the previous two years and six months - during his investigation and criminal trial - had been a "nightmare".

• He said "Scotland's leadership has failed" and that the failures were "many and obvious".

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The last six hours have been detailed. Alex Salmond’s complaints are numerous.

But stand back from it for a second.

The former first minister of Scotland has just accused his successor of breaking the ministerial code – and left open the door for her having to resign as a result.

He has said Scotland’s most senior civil servant should quit – and that its most senior lawyer should consider his position.

Nicola Sturgeon’s allies will argue he has not provided evidence for his claims of a plot against him.

But Ms Sturgeon will face huge questions when she appears before MSPs next week – some of the most difficult she has faced in her career.

In response to the question about whether Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans would resign, a Scottish government spokesman said: "No."

"Scottish Government civil servants have acted professionally throughout on behalf of ministers and in line with the Civil Service Code and values of integrity, honesty, impartiality and objectivity.

"The permanent secretary has already addressed the issues raised today at Committee on several occasions.

"As the first minister has set out, she retains confidence in the permanent secretary and expects her to see out the remainder of her contract."

The spokesman said the government had a duty to investigate the "serious and specific" complaints against Mr Salmond.

"As set out in detailed evidence to the committee, all government decisions were informed by legal advice and taken in line with the Civil Service Code," he added.

The Crown Office has responded to the allegations made by Alex Salmond in his evidence, saying it takes its responsibility to uphold the law seriously and protects the dignity and rights of all.

It added: “Scotland’s prosecutors have acted independently and in the public interest at all times when considering matters related to this case.

“The Lord Advocate will appear before the committee next week to assist in public understanding of his role, and the actions of the Crown Office in relation to this case.”

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political reporter

Image source, PA Media

As the session ended, Mr Salmond suggested to the committee that it could use its powers to seek to recover documents from his lawyers.

He said the group had previously served orders on “people unwilling to give you information” – but that his solicitors would be “extremely willing” to assist.

The committee has requested that the Crown Office produce messages which Mr Salmond cited as potential proof of collusion against him by midday on Tuesday – the day before Nicola Sturgeon gives evidence.

The group had previously used Scotland Act powers to compel the release of other text messages – but concluded that they were not relevant to the inquiry’s remit.

Mr Salmond concludes by suggesting that the committee should serve an order under the Scotland Act on his solicitors "who are extremely willing to give you information".

He says members may also want to request "the letters from the Crown Office preventing me from furnishing you with that information hitherto" under the same powers.

He says that if the committee serves that order on his solicitors they will have the documentation on Monday morning, in time for sessions with the Lord Advocate and crown agent.

Image source, PA Media

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie says that Mr Salmond has been very careful not call for Nicola Sturgeon to resign.

"Does that mean you have forgiven her for her handling of this?" she asks.

Mr Salmond says "no" - it means the people who he has called on to consider their positions are the ones where he has "documentary evidence" of their actions.

"I don't think it is for me to judge what happens to someone who may have broken the ministerial code," he says.

Committee convener Linda Fabiani asks Mr Salmond when the "malicious plan" that he has described against him started.

Mr Salmond repeats that he thinks some people hoped the police investigation would come to the rescue of the judicial review.

"That almost happened," he says.

"It was only with the great work of my legal team that we were able to argue that should not happen."

James Hamilton QC, Ireland's former director of public prosecutions, is leading an investigation into whether Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code - which sets out how ministers should behave.

Independent MSP Andy Wightman asks Mr Salmond if he has "full confidence in the independent advisers on the ministerial code" and "can we rely on Mr Hamilton's findings?"

Mr Salmond says he has "every reason to believe he (Mr Hamilton) is a man of great integrity and experience".

He says he created the panel and thinks it is unsatisfactory its remit should be confined in any way.

"I've got every confidence that Mr Hamilton will discharge his duties in a proper way and I think it is fundamentally a good system," he says.

Image source, PA Media

Alex Salmond has made a series of allegations in his evidence:

• He says he has ‘no doubt’ Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code. Mr Salmond gave an account to the committee of meetings he had with Ms Sturgeon that appeared to contradict her version of events. He said it was not for him to say whether Ms Sturgeon should resign if she was found to have broken the code.
• He claims Peter Murrell and others intervened in a police investigation. Mr Salmond is read text messages from the SNP chief executive and then refers to these messages and those from others, saying: "In my opinion, there has been behaviour which is about not just pressurising the police but pressurising witnesses, collusion with witnesses, we are talking about the construction of evidence because the police were somehow felt inadequate in finding it themselves."
• The Scottish government may have obstructed justice. Mr Salmond said that given the government was under a "duty of candour" in the civil proceedings and a search warrant for the criminal ones, failure to disclose documents amounted to "obstruction of justice".
• He believes Leslie Evans, the permanent secretary and head of the civil service, has not discharged her duties in line with the civil service code and should have resigned. He adds that Lord Wolffe, the lord advocate and head of the Crown Office, should consider his position.

The first minister, Mr Murrell, Ms Evans and Lord Wolffe have all rejected the allegations and deny wrongdoing.

Murdo Fraser asks Mr Salmond who should resign.

Mr Salmond says the people responsible for the judicial review should resign.

He says permanent secretary Leslie Evans should have resigned on 8 January 2019 when the judicial review was conceded, and he knew Scottish government ministers who felt the same.

"I can't think of many people who would not have thought that an appropriate thing to do," he says.

"I think the Lord Advocate should be considering his position for this and a range of other issues," Mr Salmond adds.

He says the Scottish government administration and the Crown Office needs new leadership.

Mr Fraser asks if Nicola Sturgeon should resign if she is shown to have broken the ministerial code.

Mr Salmond says he is in no doubt that she has broken the code, but it is not for him to say what the consequences should be.

He says it is not the case that every minister that breaks the code resigns.

"Your own party have an example of that relatively recently," he tells the Tory MSP, referring to the case of the UK government's Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Mr Salmond said in his submission that "the evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort amongst a range of individuals within the Scottish government and the SNP to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned".

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser asks why these people would conspire against him.

Mr Salmond says the original intention was to defeat the judicial review by having it postponed.

He says: "It came to be believed among some people that the loss of the court case would be cataclysmic not just for Leslie Evans and senior officials in the Scottish government, but for Nicola Sturgeon herself.

"I think people came to the belief that the police process would somehow assist in firstly not losing the review, and thereafter making sure that the loss of the judicial review was swept away in the inevitable publicity of the criminal trial.

"If I had been convicted of any offence in the criminal trial, that would be the case."

Mr Salmond tells Murdo Fraser that both explanations around the 29 March meeting breach the ministerial code.

He says either Ms Sturgeon did not really forget about it and parliament was deliberately misled, or alternatively it was forgotten about and parliament was not informed when she was reminded of it.

These are clear breaches of the ministerial code, he says.

A separate inquiry, led by James Hamilton, is to decide on whether the ministerial code was broken.

Image source, EPA

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser says First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said Mr Salmond's claims are untrue and he has no evidence.

"In effect she is denouncing you as a liar and a fantasist. Are you?" asks Mr Fraser.

Mr Salmond points to the evidence of his claims, citing the meeting with his special advisor on 29 March 2018 which Ms Sturgeon had "forgotten" happened.

He says there is no doubt that this meeting was pre-arranged for the express purpose of Ms Sturgeon being briefed about the complaints against him.

The meeting on 2 April arose from that, he says.

"Otherwise, how on earth would I have known to turn up on the 2 April?"

Mr Salmond says that for a substantial period of time the meeting of 29 March was written out of history.

"People say what difference does four days make?" he asks.

"The difference is, of course, if the meeting of 29 March is admitted and, indeed, the subject matter is admitted, then it makes it very hard to argue that the meeting of 2 April was on party business as opposed to government business."

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Editor

There’s a lot of important detail to wade through in this inquiry and it would be easy to get bogged down.

But essentially Alex Salmond thinks senior figures in Scotland’s public administration should be held to account for mishandling harassment complaints against him.

Perhaps foremost among them is Scotland’s top civil servant, Leslie Evans.

Asked by Labour MSP Jackie Baillie if he thought she had discharged her responsibilities in line with the ministerial code, he gave a one word answer: “No”.

He’s also taken aim at the Scottish government’s chief legal adviser, Lord Advocate James Wolffe.

And we know that he thinks his successor, Nicola Sturgeon, has repeatedly broken the code of conduct of ministers.

His evidence on the ministerial code is the final section of today’s epic evidence session which has already gone into extra time.

Mr Cole-Hamilton says the first minister's written evidence says she agreed to meet Mr Salmond for two reasons.

The Lib Dem MSP says the first was Mr Salmond's "profound distress" around what he was going to say at the meeting, and the second was that she thought he was going to resign her party membership.

Mr Salmond says he had no purpose in resigning from the SNP at that time and insists "I had no thought of resignation whatsoever.

"Resignation from the SNP never entered my head."

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Mr Cole-Hamilton asks Mr Salmond to summarise the discussion he had with the first minister on 2 April.

Mr Salmond says they had discussed the situation and what he had been sent, which had some detail.

He said there was no suggestion that Ms Sturgeon was "surprised and astounded" by the reason for the meeting. "The meeting was for that purpose," he said.

He says they went through options, including a mediation policy - which had been absent from the harassment policy.

Mr Salmond says the indication the first minister gave him was that she was willing to go ahead with that.

Mr Cole-Hamilton asks if the name of one of the complainants was intimated to him and the three other people involved in that discussion.

Mr Salmond said he thought it was - but that the name had previously been given to him by Geoff Aberdein, who had got it from a senior government official.

Image source, PA Media

Alex Cole-Hamilton focuses on a meeting between Geoff Aberdein and Nicola Sturgeon on 29 March 2018 and the subsequent meeting between Alex Salmond and the first minister on 2 April.

Mr Salmond says the purpose of Mr Aberdein meeting with Ms Sturgeon on 29 March was to brief the first minister on what was happening.

"I know that Nicola Sturgeon knew about the complaints process at the meeting on the 29th of March because I was told so by Geoff Aberdein," he said.

He adds that meeting was "not impromptu, was not accidental, was not her popping her head around the door - it was a meeting arranged for that purpose".

Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon met at the first minister’s Glasgow home on 2 April.

Mr Salmond says he had heard Mr Murrell say that he was regularly "popping in". The former first minister points out that he stays 200 miles away from Glasgow and says he has only visited Ms Sturgeon's home about six times in his life.

"I didn't pop in," he says.

Tory MSP Margaret Mitchell refers to a text sent by SNP chief executive Peter Murrell that talks of “pressurising” the police. Another says "the more fronts he is having to firefight on the better for all complainers".

Mr Murrell, who is the husband of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has said the messages were out of character and expressed how upset he was at the time.

Mr Salmond says that in January last year, on the day he first appeared at court for a preliminary hearing in the criminal case, he was presented with a memory stick.

The next day when he went through the messages it contained "was one of the most extraordinary days of my life", Mr Salmond says.

He says he is not allowed to describe them in any detail, but they speak to behaviour he would not have expected from people he had known for 30 years.

"In my opinion, there has been behaviour which is about not just pressurising the police but pressurising witnesses, collusion with witnesses, we are talking about the construction of evidence because the police were somehow felt inadequate in finding it themselves," he says.

Mr Salmond says that when a police investigation starts these matters are for the police.

It is not for the SNP or the Scottish government to supplant the police in an investigative function, he says.

Image source, Reuters

Jackie Baillie says there was a meeting on 13 November 2018 between counsel, the first minister, the permanent secretary and the chief of staff.

"As a former first minister, would carrying on legal action in the Court of Session knowing that you had acted unlawfully be a breach of the ministerial code?" she asked.

"Yes," replies Mr Salmond.

Ms Baillie asks: "Do you believe that this was the case in this instance?"

He replies: "Well we cannot be sure because I like you haven't seen the external legal advice of October 2018."

If the legal advice said the government was about to lose and the first minister carried on with the case then that would be a breach of the ministerial code, he says.

Mr Salmond says people would be better informed if they could see the document. Ms Baillie says the parliament has asked twice, adding: "Good luck with that one."