What was intended to be a single post on British politics has rapidly expanded into a second.

Those who missed it might find the first part of interest in clearing up what happened with Boris Johnson over the weekend.

The soap opera that is British politics continues below.

Sunday — Nicola Sturgeon’s arrest

The arrest of former SNP leader and former First Minister of Scotland finally happened on Sunday, June 11, 2023.

Why she was not arrested sooner is anyone’s guess, but did police need to do it on the Lord’s Day? They waited so long to nab her in connection with the Party’s finances, especially the missing £600,000, why not do it on a Monday?

Furthermore, the weekend started out beautifully for Sturgeon, with the news that she had just passed her driving theory test. On Saturday, STV News reported:

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has passed her driving theory test with full marks in one section.

The ex-SNP leader posted proof of her achievement having started learning to drive just before stepping aside from the top job at Holyrood.

Sturgeon scored 50 out 50 in the multiple choice section and 56 out of 75 in hazard perception – 12 above the 44-point pass mark.

She shared an image of the certificate from the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) on social media with the caption “step one complete” …

Sturgeon began her lessons in March to prepare for life after standing down as FM.

On Sunday afternoon, Guido Fawkes alerted us about her arrest. Note that Police Scotland do not name the person, only the sex and age. Guido also thinks it was not quite the done thing to arrest her on a Sunday:

Just before 6 p.m., The Guardian reported that Sturgeon found the ordeal ‘deeply distressing’ — and ‘a shock’. I do not know why she would find it a shock when everyone else in the UK knows that the case of the missing £600,000 has been going on since April 2021:

Nicola Sturgeon has been questioned “as a suspect” by detectives investigating allegations of financial misconduct by the Scottish National party.

The former first minister and SNP leader was arrested by police on Sunday morning but later released without charge, pending further inquiries, after voluntarily going to a police station.

In a statement on Sunday evening, Sturgeon said that her arrest was “both a shock and deeply distressing”. She added that: “I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.”

She is the third senior figure in the SNP to be arrested as part of Operation Branchform, a Police Scotland investigation into allegations that more than £600,000 in donations for an independence campaign was misspent by the party.

Sturgeon was detained and interviewed by detectives for more than seven hours before being released from custody, travelling to an undisclosed address away from her home in Uddingston, on the outskirts of Glasgow.

A spokesperson for Sturgeon said she had met the police “by arrangement”, in the knowledge she would be arrested and interviewed.

“Nicola Sturgeon has today, Sunday 11 June, by arrangement with Police Scotland, attended an interview where she was to be arrested and questioned in relation to Operation Branchform,” the spokesperson said.

“Nicola has consistently said she would cooperate with the investigation if asked and continues to do so.”

Her husband, Peter Murrell, had been arrested on April 5 this year. He, too, was released without charge. He was the SNP’s former chief executive.

He was responsible for a mysterious motor home parked outside his mother’s house in Fife:

Her husband, Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was arrested at their home on 5 April after plainclothes officers arrived without warning. He was interviewed under caution for nearly 12 hours before being released without charge.

The police then searched their home and back garden, and also searched the SNP’s headquarters under warrant, removing boxes of documents and computers. A luxury motorhome parked outside Murrell’s mother’s house in Fife was also seized and impounded by police, as part of their investigation.

On April 18, the Party’s former treasurer, Colin Beattie MSP, was also arrested:

and also released later without charge, pending further investigation.

The Times had more:

Sturgeon’s arrest on Sunday threw the SNP into further turmoil. Labour is increasingly confident that the scandal will cause the nationalists to lose seats in Scotland and could be pivotal in helping Sir Keir Starmer get into No 10.

There were mounting calls for Sturgeon, 52, to be suspended from the party she led 11 weeks ago pending the outcome of the investigation.

Angus MacNeil, one of the SNP’s longest-serving MPs, having represented the Western Isles since 2005, called for “political distance until the investigation ends either way”. He added: “This soap opera has gone far enough — Nicola Sturgeon suspended others from the SNP for an awful lot less.”

James Dornan, an SNP MSP, urged the party “to get rid of the ‘too-big-to-discipline’ MPs” as infighting between allies of the former first minister and her critics played out in public.

The Scottish Conservatives also called for Humza Yousaf, the first minister, who was Sturgeon’s choice as successor, to suspend her from the party …

She was arrested at 10.09am, shortly after beginning a pre-arranged interview. At 6.30pm on Sunday, an hour after she was released without charge by police, she released a bullish statement denying all wrongdoing.

… She vowed to return to the Scottish parliament “soon” and insisted she “would never do anything to harm either the SNP or the country”.

She added: “Obviously, given the nature of this process, I cannot go into detail. However, I do wish to say this, and to do so in the strongest possible terms: innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am, in fact, innocent of any wrongdoing.”

Sturgeon, who is paying all her own legal fees, is the second consecutive former first minister to be arrested after Alex Salmond, who led the nationalists into government, was charged in January 2019 over claims of sexual assault. He was acquitted on all counts in March 2020 but the pair’s relationship was broken by the allegations …

Allies of Sturgeon suggested that she would be “almost relieved” by her arrest because it ended speculation over whether police would bring her in for questioning under caution …

Less than an hour before the arrest, [SNP leader and First Minister Humza] Yousaf told the BBC that he had spoken to his predecessor recently and she was “in a good place and doing well”.

Police Scotland said that a report would be sent to the country’s prosecution service.

On Monday, more SNP MSPs (Scottish MPs) called on Humza Yousaf to suspend Sturgeon, who is still a sitting MSP for her Glasgow constituency:

Guido Fawkes told us that Ash Regan, one of the candidates to become her successor earlier this year, appeared on Good Morning Scotland, asking for ‘decisive action’, saying that Sturgeon should have her Party membership suspended.

Another SNP MSP, Michelle Thompson, called for Sturgeon to resign the Party whip:

In a statement, Michelle Thomson said:

I am on record as being a strong believer in natural justice: the presumption of innocence if, and until guilt can be proven in court of law. I stand by that. However, the processes set by the SNP under her leadership were clear. Some eight years ago when an MP, I was required to resign the SNP whip although I was never personally under investigation and was certainly not arrested. After careful consideration, I feel that the right thing for the former First Minister to do is resign the SNP Whip. This is not because she doesn’t deserve to be treated as innocent until proven guilty — she does , but because her values should be consistent.

However, Humza doesn’t see things the same way (red emphases Guido’s):

UPDATE: Humza Yousaf says he will not suspend Sturgeon despite arrest, claiming there is “no reason” to do so…

Although there was a Party vote, he was Sturgeon’s preferred successor, so he will do whatever she says. She is the Hillary Clinton of British politics.

Speaking of that leadership race, Police Scotland allegedly delayed any arrests until it finished:

On Monday, June 12, Neil Oliver told his GB News colleagues that Sturgeon’s arrest had been ‘a joy to watch!’

The channel confirmed that Sturgeon and Murrell were not at their suburban Glasgow home in order not to inconvenience their neighbours any further:

Boris Johnson’s former political director Alex Crowley said that what Sturgeon has allegedly done, if true, would be worse than what any other British politician is guilty of. How true!

The ‘difficult time’ theme caught on with empathetic SNP higher-ups, who sent her flowers. Hmm. Sounds reminiscent of a funeral:

On Tuesday, Guido wrote:

The SNP have heard the calls for Sturgeon’s suspension, ignored them, and promptly sent their former leader a bouquet of flowers just two days after she was arrested and questioned for seven hours. According to the party’s Deputy Leader Keith Brown, the SNP agreed to post the flowers this afternoon to support Nicola during her difficult time…

As if that wasn’t enough, Humza Yousaf has gone even further, claiming Sturgeon is “the most impressive politician” across the whole of Europe:

Nicola Sturgeon is the most impressive politician I think we have seen in Europe, she is an asset to our movement, and to our party. It’s obviously a difficult time, it’s a very very difficult time for her and a difficult time for our party and personally painful to many of us… I believe in natural justice, I believe in due process. She was released, of course, without charge.

Good grief.

More grief came the SNP’s way when an old sexual harassment case reappeared concerning Patrick Grady MP. The victim of the case wanted Yousaf to suspend Grady from the House of Commons in Westminster. Grady is pictured below during the pandemic:

On Tuesday, June 13, Guido reported:

Humza Yousaf is facing yet more internal calls to take action against one of his own representatives and, this time, it’s not Nicola Sturgeon. The ex-SNP staffer who accused Patrick Grady of sexual harassment has called for the disgraced MP to be barred from standing again as a candidate. He adds there are “serious concerns about his character and suitability for public office”.

In a damning letter, revealed by the Daily Record, the victim added a call for a previous claim into SNP MP Patricia Gibson to be reinvestigated. He said his experience had been traumatic and that making a complaint cost him his “career, livelihood and dreams”. The former staffer also calls out the silence of SNP HQ and Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to deliver on a promised meeting. Guido doubts Sturgeon’s sycophant successor will do any better.

Guido posted the contents of the letter, which reads in part:

As a victim of sexual harassment, the journey towards healing has been arduous, the path to healing from such a traumatic ­experience has been an uphill battle, filled with countless obstacles.

Although the SNP haven’t taken any steps to check on my welfare, with the unwavering support of the NHS, friends, family, and the immense ­dedication of my partner, I have finally managed to wean myself off ­antidepressants, regaining a semblance of normalcy in my life. But while I am making progress and continue to rebuild my life, the injustice I face remains ­unaddressed.

Despite my best efforts to raise this privately, I have been met with silence from SNP HQ while a promised meeting with your predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, ­unfortunately never came to fruition …

Grady’s admission of ­sexually harassing me during my teenage years raises serious concerns about his character and suitability for public office. Yet he continues to sit on the SNP benches, which calls into question the party’s commitment to fairness, ­transparency, and duty of care. I remain hopeful that my plea will be met with the seriousness it deserves …

The SNP now stands at a crossroad, where it has the chance to showcase to the nation an unwavering commitment to justice and accountability even during ­challenging times. As it stands, I have lost my career, livelihood, and dreams because of making a complaint.

However, while this was the end of controversy for the SNP, things hadn’t quite finished for Boris Johnson.

More to follow tomorrow.