Noel Dolan:
11 Aug 2019: Noel Dolan, born in Balham of Irish descent, sounds about as Scottish as Bob Hoskins was Nicola Sturgeon’s most senior adviser for nine years. Dolan first worked for Sturgeon in 2004 when she was depute SNP leader and was her senior special adviser until his recent retirement. 26 May 2011.
25 Mar 2020: Dolan, said Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans had to go for the “good” of the Scottish civil service. He added: “As she cost the Scottish taxpayer a large amount of money, she should have gone in 2019.” Alex Salmond was cleared of sexual assault allegations by nine women after a two week trial at the high court in Edinburgh. He had initially been accused of sexual misconduct against two civil servants and the Government reported the findings to the police.
Alex Salmond funded a judicial review against the Government and a judge ruled in 2019 that the internal probe had been biased and unlawful. The botched investigation cost the taxpayer over £700,000 in legal and associated fees. Evans, who earns around £175,000 a year, did not carry out the probe herself, but as the most senior civil servant in the Government she had responsibility. Although she was criticised for the fiasco, she remained in post and even had her contract extended.
Dolan hit out at the way the initial probe was carried out saying: “For the good of the Scottish civil service, she should go.” During a procedural hearing of the criminal trial, Alex Salmond’s defence team claimed the Government and those working there turned to the criminal process to try to “discredit” him after he won the civil case.
Judge Lady Dorrian rejected an application for the evidence to be led at the trial, saying the judicial review was “wholly irrelevant”. In a text message read out at a hearing ahead of the criminal trial, Alex Salmond’s QC Gordon Jackson said Evans had texted a civil servant, saying: “We may have lost the battle – but we will win the war.” Dolan said: “A general may survive a battle, but if she loses a war, she should go.” (the Record)
caltonjock 