ALBA was becoming a commercial enterprise under Alex Salmond – but the party’s “fan club” membership saw no issue in that, Kenny MacAskill said in emails leaked to the press.
The former justice secretary, who is standing to lead Alba, quit a key finance role within the party in protest at the way party resources were being used, messages reported by the Sunday Mail show.
The leaked emails talk about Salmond’s The Ayes Have It! event, which was held at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.
MacAskill said he thought that the use of Alba resources to support the event was “simply unacceptable”.
“Given the focus required for the by-election, why the resources in Edinburgh?
“Alex is an experienced politician and his media company have resource. Where are the boundaries between a private media operation for commercial profit and a political party?”
MacAskill raised concerns that party staff had been “chauffeuring and chaperoning guests on the show”.
“I find it disingenuous to suggest that all is in personal time when timings, and indeed formal requests, suggest differently,” he wrote in the leaked emails.
“I understand [an employee] drove the party leader back north last week. From what party event was that? Was he reimbursed for petrol? The dividing line between Alba and a commercial enterprise is being blurred.”
In another email reported by the Sunday Mail, MacAskill said: “Whilst chauffeuring political opponents seems to have been possible other work has gone by the wayside. I am aware that the actions are being taken on the direction and with the approval of the leader [Alex Salmond] and chair [Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh].
“I’m also conscious what I’ve described as the fan club membership will see no issues. I view it differently and whilst I am maybe the minority, I am not alone.”
MacAskill went on: “I am simply not willing to put my name to the staff directions and the costs being borne by the party.
“I therefore am stepping down from convening FAC [finance and audit committee]. My political views do not allow me to put my name to expenditure and actions I see as simply unacceptable.”
The Sunday Mail reported that Salmond had stepped in to convince MacAskill to remain in post.
It comes amid an increasingly tense leadership race after Salmond’s sudden death from a heart attack in October 2024.
Ash Regan, Alba’s sole MSP, is standing against MacAskill – and said last week that Salmond would have thought it made sense for her to replace him as Alba leader.
MacAskill disputed that, saying that “both historically and more recently I think it has been shown who was closest to Alex”.
