Inquiry at odds over lord advocate’s private evidence

A row has broken out among members of Holyrood’s inquiry into the unlawful handling of sexual harassment complaints against Alex Salmond over evidence from some of Scotland’s most senior legal figures.

Margaret Mitchell, the committee’s vice convener and a Scottish Conservative MSP, criticised a decision by Linda Fabiani, the SNP convener, to allow evidence from the lord advocate — the Scottish government’s most senior law official — to be held in private.

James Wolffe will be joined by David Harvie, the crown agent, and Alex Prentice QC, the principal crown counsel who led the prosecution in Salmond’s trial.

It is understood that the former first minister has been angered by the decision to have Prentice give evidence in private.

“The public is following and fully