Nicola Sturgeon has denied “in the strongest possible terms” conspiring against or colluding with Alex Salmond over sexual harassment allegations, as her husband and Scottish National party chief executive, Peter Murrell, admitted sending leaked text messages that appeared to endorse “pressuring” the police to investigate the former first minister. In written evidence to the inquiry into her government’s botched handling of the complaints against Salmond, published on Wednesday, Sturgeon said the ensuing events had caused her “a great deal of personal anguish, and resulted in the breakdown of a relationship that had been very important to me, politically and personally, for most of my life”. Members of the inquiry claimed her evidence proved she had misled parliament over when she first knew about the allegations, and exposed an unacceptable blurring of her roles as head of the Scottish government and the SNP. The committee is investigating the government’s handling of an internal inquiry into complaints of sexual misconduct by two female officials against Salmond, which was found to be unlawful in January 2019 after Salmond took the government to court. Salmond was subsequently prosecuted on 14 charges of sexual assault, including one of attempted rape, after Police Scotland launched its own investigation. He was acquitted of all charges in March 2020. Sturgeon also stated in evidence that she had “forgotten” a key meeting with Salmond’s former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, on 29 March 2018, maintaining that she first learned of the allegations on 2 April, when she “agreed to meet a friend of 30 years when I was told he was in distress and wanted to talk to me about a serious matter”. Murdo Fraser, a committee member and Scottish Conservative MSP, said: “We are expected to accept that Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister renowned for her grasp of detail, has the memory of a sieve when she’s told that her mentor of 30 years is facing allegations of sexual misconduct.” Sturgeon’s evidence also included transcripts of text messages between her and Salmond, in which he expresses frustration that the Scottish government has rejected arbitration to resolve the complaints. In her evidence, Sturgeon also said that she had “no general concerns at the time about Scottish government culture” during the years that Salmond was first minster, “and certainly not about sexual harassment”, though she added that he “could be challenging to work for”. The committee has previously heard the Salmond was known for “bullying and intimidatory behaviour”. She also stated that she sought to ensure the Scottish government’s new process for dealing with sexual harassment would include allegations of a historic nature “in the light of the #MeToo movement” and not because she had a concern that allegations about her predecessor could materialise. The Scottish Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, another committee member, said Sturgeon’s evidence had “as many holes as a Swiss cheese” and exposed “the blurring of lines between the Scottish government and the SNP, and the fact that they seem to live in each other’s pockets”. The inquiry committee also published a submission from Murrell that addressed leaked texts between himself and a senior SNP party official that appeared to suggest Murrell was eager for the police investigating the claims against Salmond to come under pressure, and for Salmond to face investigations from different police forces. Reminding the committee that there was an ongoing police investigation into the circumstances in which the texts were obtained, Murrell insisted his intended meaning was that “any and all complaints should be appropriately investigated”. Murrell told the committee: “The messages were sent the day after Mr Salmond had been charged with a number of serious offences. In the aftermath of this, the SNP was contacted by individuals who had specific, personal questions in relation to that criminal case. My intention was to advise that their questions should be addressed to the police and not the SNP. I acknowledge that I did not express myself well.” Describing Murrell’s admission as “a shattering, extraordinary revelation [that] leaves Peter Murrell’s position as chief executive of the SNP completely untenable”, Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, called for Sturgeon to sack her husband.