Nicola Sturgeon says husband 'being used as a weapon' against her

Peter Murrell has been SNP chief executive since 2000 and married Ms Sturgeon in 2010

Nicola Sturgeon has accused opposition MSPs of trying to use her husband as a "weapon" against her over his evidence to Holyrood's Alex Salmond inquiry.

Other parties say the answers given by SNP chief executive Peter Murrell "plainly contradict" Ms Sturgeon's account of meetings with Mr Salmond.

And Tory group leader Ruth Davidson said it was "not credible" to suggest the couple never discussed the case.

Ms Sturgeon replied that she is first minister, not "the office gossip".

And she accused her opponents of "indulging in wild conspiracy theories", insisting that Mr Murrell had no role in the government's investigation of internal complaints against Mr Salmond.

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On Tuesday, Mr Murrell appeared before the Holyrood committee which is examining the government's botched handling of the harassment complaints against the former first minister.

The government had to pay out more than £500,000 in legal expenses to Mr Salmond after admitting its probe had been "unlawful" due to a procedural flaw. The committee was established to examine what went wrong and what Ms Sturgeon's role was.

Mr Murrell told members that he was not present when his wife met Mr Salmond at their Glasgow home in April 2018, and that he had known not to ask her about the meeting due to her role as first minister.

There has been intense scrutiny of whether the meeting was considered SNP party business or a Scottish government matter, due to the fact the latter would have to be formally recorded - and would see Ms Sturgeon in breach of the ministerial code if it was not.

The first minister has always insisted the meeting was party business, but MSPs say Mr Murrell's account "plainly contradicted" this, as he said the inquiry was a government matter.

Challenged by Ms Davidson about this at her weekly Holyrood question session, Ms Sturgeon said she would face the committee herself "in a few weeks' time".

She said: "The fact of the matter is my husband had no role in the meetings, or the matter under investigation by the committee.

"Ruth Davidson might want to attack my husband and use him as a weapon against me - people will draw their own conclusions about that - but it doesn't change the fact he had no role."

The Scottish Tory group leader said the women who came forward with complaints against Mr Salmond had been "utterly let down" by the government, and said Ms Sturgeon "seems to think all our heads button up at the back".

Alex Salmond walked free from court in March having been cleared of charges of sexual assault

She said Ms Sturgeon's claim that the meetings were in a party or personal capacity could not chime with Mr Murrell's claim that she could not discuss them because they were government business.

The first minister replied: "I have set out the answer to that in my written evidence - I have set out what I thought might raise immediate implications for my party in the meeting with Alex Salmond, and why that turned out not to be the case.

"After that my priority was protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the process."

Ms Davidson said it was not plausible that Mr Murrell had come home to find Mr Salmond and his lawyer in their home and "never asked a single question then or since of what that's all about".

But Ms Sturgeon said "it happens to be the truth".

She said: "The fact of the matter is I am first minister of Scotland, I deal with confidential matters every day of my life - ranging from national security through to market sensitive commercial matters.

"I don't gossip about these things even to my husband. I am the first minister of my country, not the office gossip, and I take my responsibilities very seriously."

The committee has also published a written submission from former SNP Westminster group leader Angus Robertson in response to questions about allegations concerning Mr Salmond dating back to 2009.

Mr Robertson said he was contacted by an Edinburgh Airport manager about "Alex Salmond's perceived 'inappropriateness' towards female staff", and asked if he could informally "make him aware of this perception".

The former MP said he "raised the matter directly with Mr Salmond, who denied he had acted inappropriately in any way", adding that no formal complaint was made and the matter was "not reported further".

On Tuesday, Mr Murrell said he and Ms Sturgeon only learned of the claims in November 2017, when Sky News made an inquiry to the SNP about them.

Both Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon are expected to give evidence to the committee in the coming weeks, although the former first minister's lawyers have complained of the high cost of his taking legal advice over submissions as a private citizen.

The inquiry and the government investigation are separate to the criminal case brought against Mr Salmond, which saw him acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault following a High Court trial.