It is understood Ms Cherry, who is a prominent KC, did not consider acting for Alex Salmond’s widow because of the prospect she could be called to give evidence in the case.
The former First Minister raised a compensation claim of £3million against SNP ministers almost two years ago over a flawed sexual misconduct investigation by the Scottish Government.
A Holyrood committee investigated the mishandling of the complaints and also found that there were serious shortcomings.
The legal case concerns possible “misfeasance” – a civil law term meaning the wrongful exercise of lawful authority – by officials while Nicola Sturgeon was First Minister and was paused following Mr Salmond’s sudden death in October last year.
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On Sunday, it emerged that Mrs Salmond’s resolve to proceed with the case was strengthened by attacks on her late husband in Ms Sturgeon’s memoirs, Frankly, published last week.
Writing on X, Ms Cherry, who was a close ally of Mr Salmond and is a prominent critic of Ms Sturgeon, welcomed the report that the case is to resume.
“It’s important that this action continues,” wrote the former SNP MP on X.
“Misfeasance in public office is a very serious matter. The Scottish Parliament inquiry was hamstrung and partisan politicians had the wool pulled over their eyes. A court of law will be very different.”
Ms Cherry revealed last week that she is writing a book about her time in frontline politics when Ms Sturgeon was First Minister. The manuscript is due to be completed this autumn with the book due to be published next year.
Referring to Ms Sturgeon’s government’s policies on gender self-declaration, which she opposed, she wrote: “I have a lot more to say about this in the book I’m currently writing although my take is slightly different.”
She later continued: “In her political afterlife as in her political life Nicola evades scrutiny. For those hoping to understand better what was really going on behind the scenes during her leadership, this memoir will disappoint. It will be left to others to spill the beans.”
A family friend told the Sunday Mail that Mrs Salmond was “upset and angered by the continued attempts to smear Alex in the book” with “ridiculous and inaccurate” allegations.
“It has only strengthened her resolve to make sure the full truth comes out and Alex’s name is cleared,” they told the paper.
Now executor of Mr Salmond’s estate, his widow has assembled a legal team including a KC and two junior counsel and has raised money to fund the case.
The friend added: “Her case against the government is now live, the legal team is in place, the finance in place and this will be going ahead, no question of that.
“Alex may not be here to defend himself but his family are determined to stand up to those who continue to attack him.”
Ms Sturgeon’s book includes strongly disputed claims Mr Salmond opposed gay marriage, failed to read the 650-page independence white paper and that he or an aide acting on his behalf may have been responsible for the leak to the Daily Record about the Scottish Government investigation into complaints against him.
She also denied there had been any “conspiracy” to ruin Mr Salmond’s reputation – a claim the former Alba Party leader maintained until his death at the age of 69.
Ms Sturgeon said her former mentor “would have rather destroyed the SNP than see it succeed without him”. She also claimed he “impugned the integrity of the institutions at the heart of Scottish democracy – government, police, Crown Office”, adding: “He was prepared to traumatise, time and again, the women at the centre of it all.”
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Salmond fell out dramatically in 2018 after it emerged her government had investigated misconduct complaints made against him by two female civil servants. Mr Salmond had the probe struck down at the Court of Session as unfair, unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias”, and was awarded £512,000 in legal costs.
He was later cleared of 13 sexual assault charges at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2020.
He launched the Alba Party as a rival to the SNP a year later.
The former First Minister, who admitted he could have behaved better towards women on occasions, had always denied any criminality.
He sued the Scottish Government in November 2023 alleging there had been misfeasance by various civil servants under Ms Sturgeon and sought damages of around £3million.
Promising a “day of reckoning”, he said at the time: “Not one person has been held accountable. With this court action that evasion of responsibility ends.”
In a Court of Session hearing last August, Mr Salmond’s lawyer said the police were probing whether one senior civil servant “gave a false statement under oath” to a Holyrood inquiry that was probing how the sexual harassment claims were handled.
The civil action was frozen when Mr Salmond suffered a fatal heart attack in North Macedonia. But Mrs Salmond’s legal team is now reactivating proceedings.
A spokesman for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service told The Herald that the case had been “sisted” until 19 September.
He added: “Following this date the parties would advise the court, if they are ready to proceed or if they are requesting a further sist to the case.”
The Scottish Government has previously vowed to defend itself “robustly” in court.
Last night a Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on live litigation.”
