NICOLA Sturgeon has said the Alex Salmond case is not a distraction in the fight against Covid-19 as she is “laser-focused on dealing with this pandemic”.

She told the coronavirus briefing that if other people wanted to focus on other things that was their decision, but for her “nothing is more important” than dealing with the pandemic.

Last week Alex Salmond accused, who was cleared of sexual assault charges earlier this year, the Scottish Government of trying to “malign his reputation” after Sturgeon told Holyrood she had “nothing to hide”.

One of her own MPs has called for her husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, to be suspended, while an SNP MSP has demanded a judge led inquiry into the affair.

Sturgeon was asked about Salmond on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

She said: “I think the reason perhaps he is angry with me - and he clearly is angry with me - is that I didn’t cover it up, I didn’t collude with him to make these allegations go away.”

The host raised alleged discrepancies about when the First Minister said she knew about complaints. The FM told Ridge she was conflating different issues, stating: "What you're asking me about, what I've been asked about before is when I became aware of concerns that were specifically raised with the Scottish Government that were then investigated by the Scottish Government."

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Asked at the coronavirus briefing if Salmond and his supporters should back off, the First Minister said: “It hasn’t been a distraction. 

“I’m focused on dealing with the pandemic and whether you’re one of people who think I don’t get anything right, or one of the people who think I get everything right, or the vast majority who probably think it’s somewhere in the middle, I think everybody would say that I’m pretty laser-focused on dealing with this pandemic.

“I’m not in control of the questions I get asked in television interviews. I will answer questions as fully as possible. I do try in these briefings not to get dragged into other areas, so it’s not a distraction."

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She went on: "There is nothing more important that I have dealt with or will deal with over this period than continuing to try and navigate the best possible course for the country through this pandemic. 

“Other people will make their own decisions about the things they want to focus on, but that’s what I’m going to focus on, because I think it’s what the country expects of me and will continue to expect of me for as long as we’ve got this pandemic to deal with.”