Alex Salmond has rejected an invitation to appear in front of the committee looking into the Scottish government's botched handling of harassment complaints against him. The former first minister was due to appear before the committee on January 19 but argued it would 'send the wrong message' to attend in person amid the Covid lockdown. The former first minister was invited on Tuesday by Linda Fabiani, convener of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, to appear next week. Plans were made to have Mr Salmond testify under oath in person before the committee as part of the inquiry into the way harassment complaints about him were dealt with by the Scottish government.