Here are the key points from a mammoth six-hour session: Alex Salmond has claimed there is “no doubt” Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code, but stopped short of saying she should resign. He said Scotland’s “leadership has failed”. He added: “I have no doubt that Nicola broke the ministerial code, but it’s not for me to suggest what the consequence should be.” Salmond called for the lord advocate, James Wolffe, and the head of Scotland’s civil service, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, to resign over the handling of the complaints against him. He alleged a “malicious scheme” among senior SNP figures to damage his reputation, but said he had no evidence the current first minister was part of this. “The government acted illegally but somehow nobody is to blame,” he said. Salmond said he did not believe Sturgeon was involved in covering up complaints against him, but criticised her for using a Covid press conference to “effectively question the result of a jury”. Salmond refused to apologise for his own behaviour, but pointed out that a jury had cleared him of allegations of harassment. He said: “This inquiry is not about me. I have been acquitted of all criminal charges by a jury in the highest court in the land.” Salmond was highly critical of the Crown Office and urged the committee to get round its injunctions against the release of information on the handling of complaints against him. The committee had been “systematically deprived of the evidence it has legitimately sought” after “deliberate suppression of information inconvenient to the government”. Salmond claimed a leak to the Daily Record newspaper, which broke news of the allegations against him, was “politically inspired”. He said: “I think it does require further police investigation – I do believe I know the identity but I’m not here to speculate on individuals that I cannot substantiate.” Salmond claimed Sturgeon knew on 29 March 2018 that he was under investigation for sexual harassment by her government, four days earlier than the date she first gave to parliament, because she had agreed to meet Geoff Aberdein, his former chief of staff, to discuss it in her Holyrood office. Three witnesses could confirm that Aberdein was told the name of one of the complainers and that one had sworn a statement to that effect. Sturgeon and he mentioned that complainer by name when they met at her home four days later, on 2 April 2018, contradicting Sturgeon’s statement in Holyrood on Thursday she did not believe the name had been passed to Aberdein.