Rock musician to fund Alex Salmond case against Scottish government

"A millionaire businessman and rock drummer has taken up Alex Salmond's case against the Scottish government. Salmond had been suing over a botched investigation into harassment complaints made about him before he died of a heart attack in 2024. Paul McManus, drummer with the Scottish band Gun and a supporter of Scottish Labour, has now said he will fund the action after Salmond's widow Moira agreed to transfer the legal rights of the case. McManus said he never met the former SNP and Alba leader and disagreed with him politically but believed there had been a plot against him."

"I did not know the late Alex Salmond, and I disagreed with his politics, especially on the matter of Scottish independence. However, I strongly believe that those at the top of the SNP plotted against him and used levers of state which could have resulted in him being wrongly imprisoned. If the government can do this to one of their own, what chance do we, Joe Public, have if they decide to target us? I want to see those responsible held to account and to face consequences."

"Salmond was suing the government for misfeasance - a civil law term that means the wrongful exercise of lawful authority - when he died in October 2024 while attending a conference in North Macedonia. He had already been awarded more than 500,000 in costs by the Scottish government over the mishandling of harassment complaints against him. The former first minister, who launched the Alba Party in 2021, was also cleared of sexual assault charges at a subsequent criminal trial."

Paul McManus, a millionaire businessman and drummer with the Scottish band Gun, has agreed to fund Alex Salmond's legal action against the Scottish government after Salmond's widow, Moira, transferred the legal rights. Salmond had been pursuing a misfeasance claim over a mishandled investigation into harassment complaints when he died of a heart attack in October 2024. He had been awarded more than £500,000 in costs and was cleared of sexual assault charges at a subsequent criminal trial. The estate entered sequestration in November due to court-related costs. McManus says he disagrees politically with Salmond but believes senior SNP figures plotted against him, a claim the Scottish government and leading SNP figures deny. Preparatory legal work is under way.

Read at www.bbc.com