Disgraced former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier’s interview in the Scottish Sun yesterday has raised eyebrows across the board. It provided both confirmation that the party knew of rule breaking long in advance of her statement, and that Ferrier understood the initial internal policy to be “containing” the situation and retaining her as an SNP MP. Containing only the story, not the virus…

After telling the SNP Chief Whip on the Wednesday that she had travelled to and from London on public transport with the virus, it was not until 4pm on Thursday that she took part in a conference call and was told by party bosses to phone the police in order that her statement, which was not written by her, would be truthful when it went out. Then came the bombshell line…

“They told me they would be able to contain this situation. Why suddenly have we got to the point where they have to take the whip  from me? It was because the statement went out and it escalated.”

Ferrier lost the whip an hour after the statement came out, when the SNP decided that the story had escaped their control. Sturgeon’s response to this revelation was, unbelievably, that the delay was due to phone signal issues. Issues that did not materialise during the conference call confirming the original statement…

The BBC’s Nick Eardley suggests all this information bubbling up is due to yet another stage in the SNP civil war, that Ferrier only gave an interview to the Scottish Sun on the advice of Alex Salmond’s camp. Salmond’s fury with increasingly forgetful Sturgeon has risen to new heights following her ‘cover up’ allegations on Sunday. Despite U-turns and counter briefing, the SNP are on course for a majority in next year’s Holyrood elections…