Alex Salmond offers to go to court to get documents withheld by Nicola Sturgeon's government

Alex Salmond has offered to drag Nicola Sturgeon's government back to court to help a Holyrood inquiry obtain key documents that have been withheld about the botched sexual misconduct investigation into him.

In an extraordinary intervention, the former First Minister's solicitor said he was willing to apply to the Court of Session for the documents after the SNP government failed to hand them over to the inquiry.

David McKie, of Levy and McRae, said that he was willing to do this "on behalf of" the cross-party committee conducting the investigation if it agreed to meet all Mr Salmond's legal costs.

However, he noted that it is not known whether SNP ministers would contest disclosing the legal documents from Mr Salmond's victorious judicial review case, thereby "adding to the costs."

Mr McKie also said that the "quickest, and cheapest route for all" would be Mr Salmond providing the committee with a list of relevant documents and the Scottish Government agreeing to hand those it wanted.

He said that he did not understand why the SNP administration had not done this voluntarily, and was instead opting to "delay and to provide partial and incomplete evidence."

But he noted "that pattern is familiar to us from the Judicial Review proceedings, which saw the Scottish Government cave in at a late stage, with £512,250 of taxpayers' money being handed to Mr Salmond to cover his legal costs.

His letter was published as Ms Sturgeon's most senior mandarin told the inquiry's latest evidence session that she was not "at war with Alex Salmond".

Leslie Evans, the Scottish Government's permanent secretary, told the committee the First Minister would have been informed when "three specific incidences" concerning Mr Salmond were referred to Police Scotland.

She denied that the SNP administration had conducted a "fishing exercise" encouraging women to come forward after a new policy was drawn up that allowed complaints against former ministers for the first time.

But the Scottish Government faced more accusations of secrecy after Jackie Baillie, a Labour committee member, questioned Ms Evans about a "route map" on the policy that was not handed over to the committee. The mandarin expressed surprise that it had not been provided.

James Wolffe, the Lord Advocate, said the Scottish Government would shortly send a "further written document" about the judicial review but committee members said the letter from Mr Salmond's solicitor disclosed there was much more that could be provided.

Officials launched a formal investigation into Mr Salmond in January 2018 following allegations from civil servants that were lodged within weeks of Ms Sturgeon signing off the new policy.

But Mr Salmond won a judicial review last year when Scotland’s highest civil court found that the way the Scottish Government investigation was handled was unlawful and "tainted with apparent bias".

The committee's inquiry was kick-started in March this year when Mr Salmond was acquitted of 13 sex offences at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Ms Sturgeon told parliament at the time that the inquiry could have whatever material it wanted, but her government has since withheld evidence on legal grounds and tried to block witnesses.

Mr McKie's letter said Mr Salmond was reviewing the papers he holds with the aim of providing a list of documents from the judicial review and trial that "have a direct bearing on the deliberations of the committee."

However, he said Mr Salmond cannot hand over the documents he holds that were lodged by the Scottish Government "or recovered from them" for the legal proceedings "without the consent of the court."

Mr McKie said there was "no reason" why the Scottish Government could not do this "as the party providing those documents".

However, if it refuses, he said Mr Salmond could "return to court to seek the express consent of the court to have those documents passed to the committee."

Mr Salmond is also willing to provide a list of relevant documents he holds from his criminal trial, the solicitor said, but the Lord Advocate would have to provide his "express consent" from them to be handed to the inquiry.

Ms Baillie said: "This explosive letter reveals the extent of the Scottish Government's failure to be fully transparent with the committee and the public."

Murdo Fraser, a Tory committee member, said: "Alex Salmond has now joined the chorus demanding that the SNP give up the documents they don’t want us to see. The Scottish public will not tolerate a whitewash."