Alex Salmond ally hopes family will continue legal action

Salmond was claiming damages for injury to him – not physical injury, but an alleged loss of earnings due to his treatment by the government.

His lawyers claimed Holyrood officials acted “improperly, in bad faith and beyond their powers with the intention of injuring” the ex-SNP leader.

His team said that they did not recognise the £3m figure, but said the claim for damages and loss of income would be “significant”.

Salmond warned a “day of reckoning” was coming for the Scottish government as he named former first minister – and political protegee – Nicola Sturgeon and ex-permanent secretary Leslie Evans in the case, accusing both of misfeasance.

At the time the case was launched, then-first minister Humza Yousaf said the government would defend itself “robustly”.

Sturgeon has repeatedly denied being part of a plot against Salmond, or that there was evidence of one existing at all.

An initial hearing into the “misfeasance” action was heard at the Court of Session in November to lay the groundwork for a future case, which is yet to begin.

The case has been postponed several times since November while separate investigations take place – including complaints Salmond has made about events around the original case, about leaks to the media and claims of perjury.