[SCOT goes POP!] ALBA CLUEDO: So who *is* the "disgruntled senior Alba employee" who is so desperate to stop Kenny MacAskill that he was willing to *injure the party* (McEleny's favourite expulsion offence) by leaking emails to the Sunday Mail showing

[ALBA-Bot]

ALBA CLUEDO: So who *is* the "disgruntled senior Alba employee" who is so desperate to stop Kenny MacAskill that he was willing to *injure the party* (McEleny's favourite expulsion offence) by leaking emails to the Sunday Mail showing MacAskill criticising Alex Salmond?

I wasn't expecting part 5 of "THE ALBA FILES" to appear in the Sunday Mail, but here it is in all its glory. The newspaper has published lengthy extracts from emails (an interesting precedent) in which Kenny MacAskill criticises Alex Salmond for diverting party funds into his Edinburgh Fringe show, and in protest tenders his resignation as convener of Alba's Finance & Audit Committee (Mr Salmond later persuaded him to withdraw the resignation).  The purpose of the leak is clearly to try to undermine the effect of Mr Salmond's widow, sister and niece all backing Mr MacAskill for the leadership, and thus choosing to spurn Ash Regan - who is believed to be closely linked to Chris McEleny.

A "senior party figure with knowledge of MacAskill's complaint", who is plainly the leaker, is quoted as saying Mr Salmond was "completely taken aback by Kenny's behaviour...Alex no longer trusted Kenny after feeling so betrayed...He was deflated by the unfounded accusations....The reality is that even though he had managed to talk Kenny down from his inexplicable frenzy, Alex no longer trusted him and from then on – although he put on a brave face for the wider party – he did not forget and there had not been a close relationship since then..."

I mean, by God this guy is trying his best, but his efforts must be doomed to failure.  Very few Alba members are going to believe that Mr Salmond's own widow, sister and niece would be unaware of Mr Salmond expressing such bitterness and distrust towards Mr MacAskill.  He was not exactly the sort to bottle things up.  Instead, the Salmond family all seem entirely satisfied that he would have wanted Mr MacAskill to succeed him.

So who could this apparently rather desperate leaker be?  The MacAskill camp seem to know exactly who he is, and describe him as a "disgruntled employee". We know from the Sunday Mail's description that he is "senior" within the party.  How many party employees could really be considered "senior"?  Chris McEleny himself could possibly fit that description as General Secretary.  Who else could?  I can't think of anyone off the top of my head.

The leaker would also have needed access to the emails, and one person who would obviously have access to them is the person Mr MacAskill sent them to.  Given that he seemingly didn't send them to Mr Salmond, and given that they contained his resignation, it seems overwhelmingly likely that he sent them to either the General Secretary (Chris McEleny) or the Party Chair (Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh).  But the General Secretary is a party employee, and the Chair is not.  Hmmmmmmmm.

And which Alba employees are really "disgruntled" anyway?  Remember that Kenny MacAskill recently sent out an email to Alba members pre-announcing the abolition of the posts of General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary, which are currently held by Chris McEleny and Corri Wilson respectively.  Mr McEleny did give the impression of being somewhat disgruntled about that (understandable given that he's losing his salary), because he later sent out his own very lengthy email to members trying to reframe his departure as a noble "resignation", without even acknowledging that his position was being abolished - suggesting that he refused to accept the validity of Mr MacAskill's decision.

The "disgruntled employee" would of course also need to have been motivated to commit the leak by having a vested interest in Mr MacAskill losing the leadership election.  We know that Chris McEleny had bet the house by allying himself to Ash Regan before the Salmond family ruined everything for him by backing Kenny MacAskill.

So who COULD this leaker be?  It's quite the mystery, isn't it.  I must say I'm stumped.  One thing is clear, though - whoever it is must surely be facing expulsion, because they have caused tremendous injury to the party in the eyes of the public, probably more injury than anyone else has ever caused in the party's four-year history.  And "causing injury to Alba in the eyes of the public" is Chris McEleny's all-purpose reason for seeking the expulsion of members.  Doubtless this shocking case will be no different.  Let us pray this awful leaker, this senior disgruntled employee, is hunted down and punished mercilessly.

*   *   * 

Coming up in future installments of "THE ALBA FILES"...

* How Chris McEleny abused his powers to get an Alba member expelled for making a joke about him on Twitter

* Tasmina And The Written Word

* The rigging of the 2023 Alba internal elections

...plus much, much more.  Stay tuned.

Source: ALBA CLUEDO: So who *is* the "disgruntled senior Alba employee" who is so desperate to stop Kenny MacAskill that he was willing to *injure the party* (McEleny's favourite expulsion offence) by leaking emails to the Sunday Mail showing MacAskill criticising Alex Salmond?