Nae True Scotsman?

The Ex-Husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pled guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of Pounds from political donations to the Scottish National Party.

The shocking thing is that he spent his much of his ill-gotten gains on the most mundane items, which has become a running gag in Scottish politics.

A political operative’s yearslong scheme to embezzle party funds has become a source of anger and embarrassment in Scotland, but not entirely for the reasons you might think.

What’s really galling to Scots is the culprit’s lack of ambition.

Among the items Peter Murrell purchased with the $500,000 of political donations he siphoned: two toilet seats, seven vacuum cleaners, a four-and-half pound jar of Nescafe Gold Blend, and 108 rolls of toilet paper.

“Who steals instant coffee?” said Brian McNeill, who works in financial services. “He makes us look like a nation of lightweights.”

Murrell, the Scottish National Party’s former chief executive, pleaded guilty last month to taking the £400,000. The plea might have closed a shameful chapter for the government as it pushes to secure Scotland’s independence from the rest of the U.K. Instead, the past few weeks have brought a torrent of ridicule on the 61-year-old fixer and his estranged wife, former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, as Scots sifted through the 627 individual items listed in court documents.

………

But there’s a longer list of mundane purchases that has sparked a debate about their relative dumbness. Some critics wondered why Murrell didn’t buy better stuff, like a Lamborghini or one of the cheaper Picassos.Many favor the $147 pencil sharpener as the worst offender. Some are partial to the three bird-feeders Murrell bought for $207. Others bemoaned the missed opportunities, wondering why Murrell couldn’t have gotten a Lamborghini or one of the cheaper Picassos. They all pondered what the items revealed about two people who dominated politics here for so long.

Sturgeon, who resigned ahead of Murrell’s arrest three years ago and now lives in London, denied any knowledge of her now-estranged husband’s spending habits, prompting former colleague Joanna Cherry to note her “remarkable lack of curiosity” about the robotic lawnmower and all the stuff being delivered to their home in Glasgow.

She knew.  The legal term for this is wilful blindness, and it makes her an accessory. 

Still, this does seem to be a particularly Scottish sort of scandal, at least on the spending side.