Lord Falconer: 'Wolffe has been corrupted by politics'

Top QC and Labour peer Lord Falconer has accused Scotland’s Lord Advocate of being “corrupted by politics” in relation to the advice given to government in the Alex Salmond affair.

In an exclusive interview with Holyrood, the shadow attorney general said it was clear people had been “falling over backwards” to provide the advice Nicola Sturgeon wanted to hear.

The Scottish Government said there was “no substance” to the claims.

Falconer suggested the First Minister had made a “profound misstatement” about the legal advice she received from James Wolffe as he had not advised the government to continue with the case, but rather that “it wouldn’t be wrong to go on.”

He said: “That is a very different thing from saying you should go on. And if [Sturgeon] is saying she was advised to continue by the Lord Advocate, then that is not what the Lord Advocate was saying on 11 December. He was saying it would not be improper to go on, even though there was clear advice from [Roddy] Dunlop that she should stop.

“It is interesting seeing the whole thing set out like this because you can see the way that Wolffe has been corrupted by politics. I don’t mean corrupted in any financial sense. I mean corrupted by the need to say whatever your boss or your client wants to hear.”

The Scottish Government obtained external legal advice after the former first minister brought proceedings against it relating to its mishandling of harassment complaints.

Roddy Dunlop QC recommended the government concede the case on 6 December 2018, concluding it was the “least worst option”.

But minutes from a meeting indicate Wolffe told ministers there was “no question or need to drop the case” as it was important for it to be heard, “even if prospects are not certain”.

The government did not concede the case until January 2019, leading to it being forced to pay out over £500,000 in legal fees.

Falconer accused the Lord Advocate of “cravenness” and said he had “clearly turned into a courtier”.

He stopped short of calling for Wolffe to resign, but added he was “profoundly disappointed by the way [Wolffe’s] let the law down.”

And regarding Sturgeon’s involvement, Falconer said: “What the Nicola Sturgeon story tells you, by looking at those government documents, is seeing somebody so powerful within her own party and within her own government, that either she can just ignore advice she’s given or else everybody is falling over backwards to give her the advice she wants to hear.

“It’s for the committee to decide the extent to which she knew what was going on and ignored advice or if she was lying to the parliament. That’s obviously yet to be resolved by all of those on the committee and by Mr James Hamilton QC in his inquiry.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “There is no substance to these claims. The Lord Advocate is not a political appointment and has no political affiliations.”