Ian Blackford refuses to say whether Nicola Sturgeon’s husband should remain as SNP chief executive

A high-profile Nicola Sturgeon loyalist has refused to say whether her husband should remain as SNP chief executive amid a police investigation into the party’s finances.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s former Westminster leader, paid tribute to Peter Murrell’s stewardship of the party, but declined three times to state explicitly that he believed he should remain in post.

There have been calls for Mr Murrell to stand down from his position due to a police probe into the SNP’s finances, after almost £600,000 of donations, raised explicitly for independence referendum campaigns, were apparently spent by the party elsewhere.

The situation became “murkier”, the Scottish Tories have claimed, after it emerged that Mr Murrell had personally loaned the party £107,000, interest free, the day after a key meeting about the allegedly “missing” funds.

Critics have also claimed it is inappropriate for him to oversee the election of his wife’s successor as SNP leader, and to remain in post after they are elected.

Mr Blackford, speaking to BBC Scotland’s Martin Geissler on The Sunday Show, was asked three times whether Mr Murrell should stay in his post.

While in his third response he said he had “every faith and trust” in the chief executive, he refused to directly state whether or not he should remain in his position.

“When we look in the rear view mirror, and you look at the success of the SNP in winning elections, the chief executive who has delivered that is Peter Murrell,” Mr Blackford said. “He deserves our thanks more than anything else.”

Asked again whether he should stay in the job, the Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP again dodged the question.

He said: “He’s been a very successful chief executive, one that’s led the party through election after election.”

Challenged for a third time, he said: “Arguably the SNP has been the most successful electoral machine in the whole of Western Europe.

“I thank the chief executive for stewarding us through that process and I have every faith and trust in him.”

Mr Blackford is known as a loyalist to Ms Sturgeon, but he was ousted as the party’s leader at Westminster by MP Stephen Flynn in December.

Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP, has called for Mr Murrell to resign and claimed the SNP had been run by a “small impenetrable cabal” under Ms Sturgeon’s tenure as party leader.

She resigned from a position on the SNP’s ruling National Executive Committee in 2021, claiming she had been prevented from fulfilling her mandate to “improve transparency and scrutiny” of the party.

It followed the MP Douglas Chapman quitting as party treasurer, a post he was elected to by members, claiming he had not received the “support or financial information” to allow him to carry out his duties.

Allies of Kate Forbes have claimed the quick timetable to elect a new leader set by the party’s ruling committee has been designed to impede her potential candidacy, with the finance secretary still on maternity leave.

Police Scotland is recently believed to have stepped up its probe into the party, but it has refused to say whether it has interviewed Ms Sturgeon or Mr Murrell as part of its investigation.

Ms Sturgeon has refused to say whether she has been spoken to by police, or expects to be.

According to the most recently published information, the SNP has repaid £47,620 of the £107,620 interest-free loan to Mr Murrell, meaning £60,000 is outstanding.

Ms Sturgeon has claimed that she cannot remember when she first learned her husband was lending the party the cash.

Ms Sturgeon insisted the loan came from “his resources” and “resources that belonged to him” when asked whether she had contributed.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “A report which outlines enquiries already undertaken and seeks further instruction has been submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). We are working closely with COPFS as the investigation continues.”