EUAN McCOLM: Drum roll, please, as a new hero steps up to join JK on the frontline in the battle against our authoritarian politicians
Daily Mail columnist Euan McColm praises Scottish rock musician and businessman Paul McManus for taking up the late Alex Salmond's legal case against the Scottish Government, arguing that wealthy individuals like McManus and JK Rowling play a valuable role in holding SNP ministers to account. He frames this as evidence that, alongside concerns about "dark money" in politics, some rich donors are using their resources to defend democratic standards rather than undermine them.
McManus, drummer with the band Gun who made his fortune through business interests including a Lanarkshire quarry, was granted the rights to continue Salmond's case after Salmond's widow Moira transferred them to him following Salmond's death from a heart attack in 2024. Salmond had been suing over a botched Scottish Government investigation into harassment complaints against him; he was later charged with several offences, including attempted rape, but was cleared at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2020. McColm notes McManus, a recent Labour donor who disagreed with Salmond's independence politics, says he believes senior SNP figures plotted against Salmond, and highlights McManus's separate backing of Glasgow Labour councillor Fiona Higgins, who faces an ethical standards complaint after criticising planned education cuts.
- Musician Paul McManus takes over Alex Salmond's legal case against Scottish Government.
- Salmond's widow transferred case rights to McManus after Salmond's 2024 death.
- McManus also backs Glasgow councillor Fiona Higgins in separate standards row.
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Since 2018, Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader and Scotland's ex-first minister, had been locked in a legal fight with the Scottish Government over its handling of harassment complaints made against him, a process later ruled to have been unlawful. Salmond was also separately charged with a string of sexual offences, including attempted rape, but was cleared of all charges at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2020. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 2024, before his civil case against the government had been resolved.
Salmond's widow, Moira, has since passed on the right to pursue his outstanding legal case to Paul McManus, a Scottish businessman and drummer with the rock band Gun, who made his money partly through a quarry business in Lanarkshire. McManus has said he believes senior figures in the SNP worked against Salmond, though he does not share Salmond's support for Scottish independence and has donated to the Labour Party.
The case sits within a wider debate about wealthy individuals funding legal and political challenges against the Scottish Government, with author JK Rowling often cited as another prominent example of a high-profile figure using her resources in this way. Supporters see such interventions as a check on those in power, while critics raise concerns about the influence of large private donations on politics.