Alex Salmond resigns: Former first minister quits SNP amid row over sexual misconduct claims

Politician has strongly denied the allegations against him and says resignation is to avoid divisions within the party

Alex Salmond has resigned from the SNP amid allegations of sexual harassment.

Two complaints were raised in January against the former Scottish first minister and he was informed of an investigation in March.

Mr Salmond has fiercely denied the allegations.

He is taking court action against the Scottish government to contest the complaints process activated against him, with papers lodged at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

In a message posted on Twitter, Mr Salmond said he has written to the party’s national secretary to resign his membership.

He stated: “I have been a member of the Scottish National Party for 45 years, 20 of them as party leader and seven as first minister of Scotland.

“I hope I have done the party and the broader cause of independence some service.

“Apart from a political spat back in the 1980s, that has been a period of continuous membership.

“I truly love the SNP and the wider independence movement in Scotland. They have been the defining commitment of my life.

“But today I have written to the national secretary of the party resigning my membership.”

Mr Salmond indicated his resignation was to avoid potential divisions within the party.

He stated: “It seems obvious that [Scottish first minister] Nicola [Sturgeon] feels under pressure from other political parties to suspend me from SNP membership, given recent party precedents...

“I did not come into politics to facilitate opposition attacks on the SNP and, with Parliament returning next week, I have tendered my resignation to remove this line of opposition attack.

“Most of all, I am conscious that if the party felt forced into suspending me it would cause substantial internal division.”

He added it is his “absolute intention” to reapply for SNP membership “just as soon as I have had the opportunity to clear my name”.

“In the meantime, I would urge no one else to relinquish their SNP membership,” he said.

The allegations about Mr Salmond’s conduct towards two staff members while he was in office in 2013 emerged last week.

On Friday, Police Scotland confirmed the complaints had been passed to the force.

This week the Scottish government confirmed there are no recorded complaints about Mr Salmond from before January this year.

He reiterated his strong denial of the allegations in the video message, saying: “Let me be clear again. I refute these two complaints of harassment and I absolutely reject any suggestion of criminality.”

Earlier this week, he wrote to Scotland’s top civil servant, calling for an inquiry into how the allegations against him were made public.

“I believe that all such issues must be treated seriously, confidentially and through a fair process. In this case confidentiality has been broken greatly to my detriment and in a way which puts at serious risk the anonymity of both complainants,” Mr Salmond said in the message.

“It urgently needs to be established who breached that duty of confidence and why.”

He said his “entire focus” is now on preparing for the judicial review proceedings at Scotland’s highest civil court and said he has launched a crowd-funding campaign to help with costs.

“My intention is to secure fairness because that is necessary to clear my name,” he said.

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “This is an overdue move, but one that plunges Scotland’s governing party into turmoil.

“The fact he now has the brass neck to publicly crowdfund in the same breath as seemingly doing the right thing is astonishing.

“Scotland now faces the incredible and unprecedented situation of its most famous former First Minister appealing to SNP supporters for cash to take legal action against the government he used to run.”