Nicola Sturgeon didn't know her husband stole £400,000

[Imdunfer]

Really? She lived with this guy and didn't know? She had a camper van parked on the drive and didn't know he stole the money to buy it?

I don't buy it.

AIBU

I don’t believe she knew, either.

It would be a really random thing for the paper to make up as overlaying maps wouldn’t be that difficult.

I don’t remember the layout of the zoo at all though, I was too young when I went

it just feels like he’s taken one for the team. Just terrible.

Chapeau.

She didn’t live with him though she has lived with her female partner for many years and the “marriage” to her also gay husband was fake

Think about it, they must both have been bringing in that sort of money 💰

Could you imagine your own finances with 2x what your DH is bringing in.
No nursery or childcare fees.
Half the food bill.
Half the clothes bill.
Holidays low season, luxury for 2?

They probably bought and sold houses at the right time, then a lot of years very low interest rates plus an off-set mortgage.
I'd bet the mortgage is paid off.

Then its easy to accumulate money.

That's quite an assertion! Do you have any evidence?

I've heard that rumour too.
Do you think the miscarriage story is true?

Sturgeon is a control freak. If someone in Sturgeons team ate beans they wouldn't fart without her permission.

I don't understand these rumours about Sturgeon and her sexuality, and that of Murrell. Surely people don't care if a party leader is gay? Ruth Davidson was open about her sexuality years ago. Why hide it?

That’s assuming the marriage was to protect her. I think, if he is gay, then it would have been as much, if not more, benefit to him

I don't understand. Scotland isn't backward, why deny being gay?

Why lie to the electorate, then? The SNP fanatics would vote in Ian Brady if he was SNP Leader. Sturgeon's a contemptuous liar.

It may not be backward, but homophobia is a thing.

In 1988, the year Sturgeon and Murrell met Section 28 was brought in. In the debates about repealing it one of the SNP’s biggest backers at the time, Brian Soutar led the Keep the Clause campaign.

To this day a lot of men still hide being gay, especially if they are aiming for high profile jobs and Murrell had political ambitions of his own.

I just think the assumption that a lavender marriage was simply to protect her career is short sighted

I know all about Section 28. Fortunately, most of the UK, including Scotland has moved on in the last 38 years
There is still homophobia, but it does not preclude many senior government figures being openly gay. Ruth Davidson being one.

Lavender Marriage I was trying to elude to

The van was never parked on their drive but on her MIL's drive. But a neighbour has said he saw her visiting the MIL so she must have seen it. The Jaguar was parked on their drive.. And she was with him when he bought her gifts.And she showed off her 'home library' on TV that he bought, including a ladder! And what about all the things he ordered from Amazon? The two expensive watches, the Montblanc pen she used in Parliament, the Le Creuset stuff, the two Dyson hairdryers that he as a bald guy bought, etc etc. She must have known Joanna Cherry, former SNP minister, asks why Nicola had a lack of curiosity about all this stuff appearing in her house. In addition, Nicola is on record telling people not to ask about the funds so as not to rock the boat!

@AlternateLook Fanatics might. The ordinary voter wouldn't.

As I've said on Mumsnet a few times, I was once a member of the SNP. I left because of the corruption.

I didn't know about the campervan etc at the time: I'm talking about certain people being pushed out and shenanigans at conference geared to keep gender critical members out of office.

ETA I completely misread your post as referring to the misappropriation of funds. That's what I get for skimming. Apologies.

Most voters wouldn't give a fig about someone's sexuality. A few conservatives (with a small 'c') might, but as people have already pointed out, Ruth Davidson was open about her sexuality and it didn't harm her.

Being gay isn't a problem. Being straight and predatory or gay and predatory is.

There have been claims on social media about such behaviour, but no one has come forward to confirm it.

I see, thank you.

I think one disguised as a lease car/company car, and the other the story was that it had been bought as a campaign mobile HQ?

But then was nobody asking why they were leasing expensive cars and a ‘campaign motor home’ that nobody was using?

It has moved on, but many gay men who pretended not to be gay still pretend.

He’s clearly a power hungry and greedy man. Taking the risk of coming out was clearly too much of a gamble for him, which is somewhat ironic giving his thieving.

i think it’ll ultimately come out that it was very common to waste SNP money buy spending it on personal items.

Murrell was just the greediest (Natalie McGarry got caught because of greed as well)

Yes, indeed, that is an actual crime.

Sorry, but I disagree. I thought the motor home was not parked at theirs. The rest of the stuff - well, I’ve had this convo with DH when he said how on earth did she not know, and reminded him that he buys stuff without telling me and I have no idea how much it cost. He has a 3D printer in the shed - how much did that cost? I’ve no idea. Years ago he bought a video camera - I had no idea how much that cost either. Nor his electric guitars.

I don’t know what particular brands of watches or coffee makers cost. Unless a watch is a Rolex I wouldn’t know if it is expensive. Apparently some of the stuff was just very expensive versions of mundane items - I genuinely wouldn’t have noticed how much that amounted to in ££ terms, and I’m not a party leader, presumably very busy.

The bigger question is who didn’t spot that money was disappearing from party accounts. That’s the problem. How was that hidden? Did he fabricate receipts to cover up the expenditure?