Rock musician to fund Alex Salmond case against Scottish government

A millionaire businessman and rock drummer has taken up Alex Salmond's case against the Scottish government.

Salmond had been suing over a botched investigation into harassment complaints made about him before he died of a heart attack in 2024.

Paul McManus, drummer with the Scottish band Gun and a supporter of Scottish Labour, has now said he will fund the action after Salmond's widow Moira agreed to transfer the legal rights of the case.

McManus said he never met the former SNP and Alba leader and disagreed with him politically but believed there had been a plot against him. The Scottish government and leading SNP figures including Nicola Sturgeon have consistently denied this.

Salmond was suing the government for misfeasance - a civil law term that means the wrongful exercise of lawful authority - when he died in October 2024 while attending a conference in North Macedonia.

He had already been awarded more than £500,000 in costs by the Scottish government over the mishandling of harassment complaints against him.

The former first minister, who launched the Alba Party in 2021, was also cleared of sexual assault charges at a subsequent criminal trial.

His family planned to continue the legal action but in November his estate was placed into sequestration – the Scottish legal equivalent of bankruptcy – due to costs linked to court action.

McManus, who has previously donated to Scottish Labour, said: "I did not know the late Alex Salmond, and I disagreed with his politics, especially on the matter of Scottish independence.

"However, I strongly believe that those at the top of the SNP plotted against him and used levers of state which could have resulted in him being wrongly imprisoned.

"If the government can do this to one of their own, what chance do we, Joe Public, have if they decide to target us? I want to see those responsible held to account and to face consequences."

Preparatory work has been taking place, led by solicitor advocate Prof Peter Watson of PBW Law and partners Michael McKitrick and Pamela Rodgers.

Watson said: "Litigation is a remedy of last resort, but it is hoped that this litigation will result in answers to many troubling questions that were first asked by Alex Salmond."

Hard rock band Gun were formed in 1987, with McManus joining them on drums in 2010.

Aside from his musical career, McManus has had a number of business interests including Cloburn Quarry in Lanark, a major supplier of ballast for Britain's railways.

He supported legal action against the UK government opposing levies on aggregates, before selling his stake in the quarry last year in a deal which he said was worth £70m.

McManus has also opposed the introduction of Glasgow's low emission zone (LEZ) aimed a tackling pollution, describing it as a tax on low income drivers.

Both the Scottish government and the SNP said it would be inappropriate to comment on the latest development because of the ongoing legal action.

Last year Nicola Sturgeon, who succeeded Salmond as first minister, denied claims of a conspiracy in her memoir, which was highly critical of her former mentor.