Former SNP chief executive admits stealing party funds

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Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, has admitted to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party. He used the money, stolen between 2010 and 2022, to fund an extravagant lifestyle, spending £124,550 on a motorhome, £4,225 on a fountain pen and £3,192 on a tea set. Other purchases included video games and instant coffee. Nicola Sturgeon, his now estranged wife, has denied knowledge of his crimes and been cleared of wrongdoing by police. The scandal raises difficult questions for the SNP but has not proved fatal to the party, which won its fifth Scottish election in a row earlier this month. Nor has it dampened support for independence, a cause that is increasingly decoupled from the SNP itself.