Events revealed that Sturgeon’s, Principal Private Secretary, (PPS) Somers, was in at the start of the alleged “get Salmond” conspiracy – I asked GROK to investigate

20 November 2017: Somers, Principal Private Secretary, to Sturgeon met with Ms A, at her request, in the First Minster’s office. She told him the purpose of a meeting with Sturgeon was to relate to her information that she thought would improve the organization. She stressed she was not making a complaint, she simply wanted to assess with Sturgeon her options on how she could best share the information.

Ms A was denied access to Sturgeon by Somers and was instead subjected to intense pressure from senior civil service managers and other senior political and legal persons to register a complaint against Alex with an assurance that it would be resolved to her satisfaction through use of “newly drafted” all-encompassing procedures, which she would have a hand in compiling. In this regard she placed her trust in and was used by the Scottish government as a sacrificial lamb in a political vendetta against Alex.

Afternote: Somers (gatekeeper to Sturgeon) told the Holyrood Inquiry that he had not briefed Sturgeon about his meeting with Ms A or her request for a private meeting with the her upholding his commitment to her to keep the details of their conversation secret. He said: “I wouldn’t tell Sturgeon because it wasn’t my experience to share. That was my first priority. Secondly, had I done that, I would have put Sturgeon in a state of knowledge about something she couldn’t have taken action upon at that point.” Somers went on to state he was “overwhelmed” by Ms A’s disclosure and with her permission he advised his Line Manager Allison, and the Director of Safer Communities, Russell.

Comment: Somers escalated matters against the wishes of Ms A. In doing so he failed in his duties as gatekeeper to Sturgeon.

20 November 2017: 30 page pdf providing details of Evans November 2017, diary dates. Noteworthy: 20 minute weekly meeting with Liz Lloyd and day trip to London for a meeting with the UK Goverment Cabinet Secretary

Click to access foi-19-01156%2B-%2Bpdf.pdf

21 November 2017: 1730-1800: Lloyd, Somers and Cameron meet

21 November 2017: Somers and two unnamed officers met with Ms A and advised she would need to further discuss the matter with his line manager Allison, with a proviso that if she felt she was not being taken seriously or no one was listening to her, she should get back in touch with Somers who would set-up a personal meeting for her with Sturgeon.

Somers went on to say that he did not tell the First Minister that Ms A had confided in him because it wasn’t his experience to share and had he done so he would have put the First Minister in a state of knowledge about something she could not have taken action upon at that point?”

22 November 2017: Gillian Russell, a senior civil servant appointed by the Permanent Secretary to act as a “confidential sounding board” for staff raising harassment concerns told the Holyrood Inquiry that Ms A had raised “a series of very significant issues” with her.

Her judgement was that the allegations were potentially criminal and she passed on a telephone number so that the complainer could contact the police. She did not refer the conversation to any other person believing that there might be a police investigation and it would not be appropriate for her to be involved.

Afternote 1: Somers decision not to inform the First Minister denied Ms A the informal meeting she had asked for and escalated events from informal to formal. His reasoning was flawed since it was based on a rebuttable assumption. His choice of words is also significant. “at that point” would be a reference to the draft policy which he was working on with Lloyd. He fine well knew what he was doing.