ROBBIE DINWOODIE and KEVIN SCHOFIELD


Read Robbie Dinwoodie's blog verdict
here

Alex Salmond has been accused of sleaze over the Scottish Government's handling of the planning application for a £1bn golf resort in Aberdeenshire by the Trump organisation.

Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen said: "Every step of the way there is contradiction, concealment and cleverness from his government on this issue. It smells of sleaze."

But a furious Mr Salmond yesterday called on Mr Stephen to apologise and withdraw criticisms of the government's chief planning officer Jim McKinnon who, as a civil servant, was not in a position to defend himself.

The LibDems focused on the fact that on the day the application was called in by ministers Mr McKinnon placed a telephone call to Aberdeenshire Council's chief executive while representatives of Mr Trump were present in his office.

This story changed in the course of the day when it was made clear that the later phone call telling the council the application was being called in was separate from the one in which Trump officials had to be asked to leave the room.

For the Conservatives the issue was the use of an official limousine for Mr Salmond to attend what was said to be a constituency meeting with Trump representatives and the claim, later denied, that a government special adviser accompanied him during the journey to the meeting.

Labour mounted a different attack, with Lord Foulkes, the Lothian MSP, pointing out that two days before the decision to call in the application Finance Secretary John Swinney had attended an event in New York held at a Trump venue.

But the government said the Global Scots conference had been organised by VisitScotland, the venue was hired at commercial rates and Mr Swinney has never met Mr Trump or members of his organisation.

Mr Stephen asked the First Minister: "Will he now have an independent inquiry to investigate what happened in those 48 hours last Monday and Tuesday?"

Mr Salmond insisted his behaviour on the matter had "followed exactly the rule book".

Tory leader Annabel Goldie accused the First Minister of breaching the ministerial code by meeting members of the Trump organisation in the days between Aberdeenshire Council rejecting the application and it being called in by ministers.

"Astonishingly, he was not even-handed, he was cackhanded," she said.