The FDA has condemned the behaviour of former First Minister Alex Salmond, following his string of personal attacks against Scottish Government Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans.

Evans launched an enquiry into sexual assault misconduct allegations levelled against Salmond, according to Scottish Governmental procedure. He responded by launching legal action against the Permanent Secretary, and publicly critiquing her actions and calling her impartiality into question. The former First Minister said in a statement: “In my opinion and for whatever reason the Permanent Secretary has decided to mount a process against me using an unlawful procedure which she herself introduced.”

FDA General Secretary Dave Penman spoke on Sky News to denounce Salmond’s treatment of the civil servant. He said: “Alex Salmond is undermining the Scottish Government, he’s undermining the process that Nicola Sturgeon has introduced and he’s undermining the impartiality and integrity of the civil service – and as a former First Minister he absolutely knows what he’s doing.”

This follows an article Penman wrote for The Times, where he described Salmond’s behaviour as “nasty, vindictive and deliberate” and stated that his “decision to attack the integrity of Scotland’s most senior civil servant is no accident. He would be aware that his supporters would jump on this bandwagon.” His comments were quoted in articles from the BBC, The Guardian, The Herald, STV and The Irish Times.

Previous to this, the FDA, PCS and Prospect met with Evans and released a joint statement to express confidence in the Scottish Government’s processes for handling harassment complaints.