Questions about Peter Murrell’s SNP spending spree are not going away

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A court in Edinburgh has heard how Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the Scottish National Party, used fake invoices to embezzle more than £400,000 of party funds.

So what? The scale of Murrell’s theft is breathtaking. Between 2010 and 2022, he purchased hundreds of items, ranging from a £124,550 motorhome to a £4 bottle of passion fruit shower cleaner. The case raises difficult questions for the SNP, including

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  how his embezzlement went unnoticed for so long; and

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  what Nicola Sturgeon, his now-estranged wife, knew.

Party man. As the SNP’s chief executive, Murrell kept a low profile but was central to the machinery of a party that has won five elections in a row and has governed Scotland since 2007. He controlled the party’s main bank account and oversaw expenses claims, including his own.

How we got here. Operation Branchform, the police investigation into the SNP’s finances, was launched in 2021 amid concerns about the fate of £667,000 raised to fund a campaign for a second Scottish independence referendum.

Spending spree. Murrell pleaded guilty last week to stealing SNP money to “fund a lavish lifestyle he could not afford”. Yesterday, he appeared in handcuffs as lawyers set out the facts.

Paper trail. Most of the purchases were made with party bank cards and disguised by Murrell using falsified paperwork.

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  Luxury watches costing £9,350.25 were listed as “event merchandise”.

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  A £3,070 robotic lawnmower was recorded as “legal fees”.

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  An egg poacher set worth £28.98 was described as “Ethernet cabling”.

Crown jewel. Much attention has focused on the now-infamous motorhome, which was only driven four miles to the home of Murrell’s mother in Dunfermline, where it sat unused for two years. Murrell described it as a “van” and told SNP officials it could be used for campaigning purposes, despite stocking it with luxury goods and buying three motorhome holiday guides.

By the numbers. Murrell spent:

£57,500 on a Jaguar I-Pace.

£8,991.65 on four coffee machines.

£5,319.26 on Le Creuset cookware.

£2,618.16 on salt and pepper grinders.

£1,056 on Jo Malone reed diffusers and candles.

Plea of ignorance. Nicola Sturgeon, who married Murrell in 2010, was arrested and questioned as part of Operation Branchform but released without charge. She insists she knew nothing of her husband's crimes, even though several items were found in their shared home.

An explanation. Sturgeon said she believed they could afford the items because they were both well-paid, had no children and rarely took holidays. She maintains that she has no memory of ever seeing the motorhome, which was parked around the side of her mother-in-law's house.

Voters aren’t convinced. A recent poll shows that only 20% of Scots believe her, compared with about 60% who do not. As SNP leader, Sturgeon shared responsibility for overseeing the party's finances. In 2021 she told its executive committee that “there are no reasons for people to be concerned” about the finances of a party that had previously come close to bankruptcy.

Political row. John Swinney, the current first minister, has resisted calls for an inquiry into the SNP’s finances on the basis that the five-year police investigation has been “forensic”. Labour has accused him of a “nothing to be seen here” attitude.

What’s more… Murrell will be sentenced on 23 June. It remains to be seen whether his crimes will hurt the popularity of the SNP and the broader cause of Scottish independence.

Photograph by PA/Alamy