Salmond accuses Sturgeon of lying at Holyrood committee

For 11 months, he said nothing in public. Last March, Scotland’s former first minister was acquitted at a criminal trial of 13 charges of sexual assault.

Then he was also awarded more than half a million pounds after he successfully challenged the lawfulness of a Scottish government investigation.

Today the silence ended as we got a quietly spoken but furious attack on his successor Nicola Sturgeon.

Why does all this matter? Because we’re just weeks away from elections in which the SNP will try and win a mandate for a new independence referendum.