It wouldn’t be Scottish politics if there wasn’t an abstruse scandal that requires a half-hour of background information to explain. So, here goes: Dorothy Bain KC is the Lord Advocate, the title given to the head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. In addition to being the chief prosecutor north of the border, she is also a minister in the SNP-run Scottish Government, where she serves as the top legal adviser.

Bain was summoned to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday to answer questions about a minute she emailed to John Swinney, who is first minister and therefore head of the ministry in which Bain sits, as well as the leader of the SNP. The memo concerned the upcoming trial of Peter Murrell. Murrell is the former SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister and leader of the SNP. Murrell stands accused of embezzlement of party funds and has yet to enter a plea.

Labour and the Tories are furious about the email, the existence of which was revealed by the Scottish Sun. Much of the anger stems from the level of detail it contained. It confirmed not only the indictment of Murrell and the nature of the charge against him but the date and location of the preliminary hearing and even the exact figure he is alleged to have embezzled to the penny: £459,046.49. Bain also confirmed that she would uphold the non-involvement policy, which means the Lord Advocate has nothing to do with prosecutions that have a political dimension. Communicating her non-involvement might have been reasonable, but the granular detail she provided seems rather – well – involved.

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Bain sent the minute, she........

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