Peter Murrell's 'appalling' embezzlement scandal torn apart by Tory MP: 'Absolute joke!'

Nicola Sturgeon has been lambasted amid the "appalling" embezzlement scandal by estranged husband Peter Murrell.

Speaking to GB News, Conservative MP Katie Lam declared it is an "absolute joke" that Ms Sturgeon has said she had "no knowledge" of Mr Murrell's embezzlement of £400,000 from the Scottish National Party.

Ms Sturgeon has assured via her lawyers that she had "no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever" that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds.

Dismissing the former First Minister's statement, Ms Lam told GB News that the idea that she "didn't know" is an "absolute joke".

Ms Lam argued: "I think it's an absolute joke, the idea that she might not have known anything. I think the embezzlement itself is appalling, but the idea that your husband is nearly £500,000 up, spending all of this money on goods great and small, and you never think to ask where this money has come from?

"You have no curiosity whatsoever about how it's possible that you can now afford things that you didn't used to be able to? I don't think it's credible at all."

Questioned by host Alex Armstrong on whether there is a "problem with our political class or is it wilful blindness", the Tory MP made clear that the embezzlement scandal is "far worse than that".

She told GB News: "I think that there are definitely instances, and the Peter Mandelson case is a perfect example where either somebody genuinely didn't know or the only way that they could have not known is if they didn't want to know.

"And if you take something like Prime Minister's behaviour over Mandelson, the only way that any of the behaviour of the civil service makes sense is if the Prime Minister had said ahead of time, 'I want this guy to be appointed'."

Ms Lam continued: "In this instance, I actually think it's worse than that. I just don't think that it's plausible that Nicola Sturgeon, even if she didn't want to know, I just don't think it's plausible that this was something that she wouldn't have been aware of."

Asked where she believes this leaves the SNP amid the scandal, Ms Lam highlighted that Mr Murrell's embezzling is the latest in a "long string of issues and scandals" within the party.

She told GB News: "There's an appalling case of a hospital in Scotland where several children have died because the hospital was not properly constructed, and the water from the pipe work essentially was poisoning children. And the SNP have just said 'nothing to see here, keep sending your children, let's just keep going'.

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"So the people of Scotland are really suffering under the SNP in several different ways, and I think that this is just the latest chapter in a very sorry story."

Asked for her verdict on Sir Keir Starmer's push to ban social media for under-16s, Ms Lam criticised the Labour Government for lacking "urgency" in implementing any legislation.

She told GB News: "Well, I know that parents and of course bereaved parents especially are deeply, deeply worried and frustrated and upset at this issue, at how long it's taken.

"Like with everything, it's important to get it right, it's important to get the enforcement mechanism right, and sometimes that can take a little bit of time.

"But there doesn't really seem to be any sense of urgency from this Government to do absolutely anything whatsoever."

In a statement via her lawyers, Ms Sturgeon has said: "I have seen questions raised about how I could not have known about this.

"I want to reiterate that I had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds.

"I was cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy and thorough investigation. In relation to many of the items in question, for example expensive watches and games consoles, I was not aware of them having been purchased at all."