Swinney has 'made political career' out of double standards and hushing up scandal, claims Sarwar

By TOM GORDON DEPUTY SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 19:48, 6 April 2026 | Updated: 19:48, 6 April 2026 John Swinney has ‘made a political a career’ out of double standards and covering up SNP scandals, Anas Sarwar has claimed. The Scottish Labour leader also accused the First Minister of ‘hiding’ from scrutiny by not inviting the press to a campaign event at a windfarm near Glasgow yesterday. Mr Swinney was joined by Eastwood candidate Kirsten Oswald, who Labour branded a ‘sex pest apologist’ over her role in a Westminster sex scandal. Ms Oswald, a former MP, was heavily criticised for shutting down complaints about disgraced colleague Patrick Grady in 2022. As deputy of the SNP Westminster group, she threatened a male party staffer harassed by Grady with disciplinary action after he spoke out. The victim, who was 19 when the Glasgow North MP struck, emailed MPs and staff criticising the SNP’s handling of the affair after Grady was suspended for two days following a Commons sleaze probe. Ms Oswald said the staffer should ‘cease and desist’ and warned him further emails ‘could be treated as misconduct’ and lead to a ‘disciplinary process’. She also told the victim, who was on long-term sick leave, his Commons email had been ‘temporarily suspended’ as a ‘protective measure’. John Swinney on the campaign trail with Kirsten Oswald on Monday - and event the press was not invited to Mr Sarwar said: ‘When something is flagged to me, I take action. ‘When something’s flagged to the SNP, they try to cover it up and they put protection of the institution and the individual and the leadership before what’s right by the country. ‘That’s what happens time after time after time. ‘It’s who John Swinney is. He’s made a political career of doing this. This is the machine that was built by John Swinney.’ He went on: ‘Judge them on the actions. Why do they have one rule for everybody else and a different rule for them, one standard for everybody else, a different standard for them? ‘It’s because it’s who they are and it’s the way they govern as well. ‘They govern by protecting the SNP, they don’t govern in the interests of Scotland.’ Referring to Mr Swinney not inviting the press to his campaign event, Mr Sarwar said: ‘The reason he’s hiding is he’s got something to hide - he’ll have nowhere to hide on the 7th of May, I’m confident about that.’ As an MP, Ms Oswald employed North Lanarkshire councillor Tracy Carragher, a close ally of Jordan Linden, who was last month convicted of being a sexual predator. Linden, 30, was found guilty of ten offences, including five sexual assaults, against young men between 2011 and 2021. After he quit as North Lanarkshire Council leader in 2022 over the emerging scandal, Ms Carragher gave him her support. A defence witness at his trial, she was suspended by the SNP last week, ending her bid to become a list MSP. It was claimed at the weekend that ex-SNP chief executive Peter Murrell knew of complaints against Linden 10 years ago. Mr Swinney said he had ‘no information about the substance’ of that claim. The SNP leader, who will be campaigning in Edinburgh today, added: ‘The SNP has reviewed its complaints handling process. ‘I have asked for some independent scrutiny of that complaints handling process to make sure it is effective and appropriate for our times. I’m confident that is the case in the SNP today.’ An SNP spokesman said: ‘Anas Sarwar defended Pam Duncan Glancy’s friendship with a convicted paedophile for weeks before being forced to act. He described Peter Mandelson as his old friend, and did not suspend Joani Reid after she was caught up in the spying scandal. Mr Sarwar may wish to get his house in order.’ No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.