Scotland's Evita, Nicola Sturgeon, is a woman with a plan

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

But what has it been for? Spending all that money on what you thought was a first look at the much-anticipated memoir, only to find its author has been singing like a canary to any outlet that will have her. It's like waking up on Christmas morning to see the gifts under the tree already opened.
You have to hand it to Ms Sturgeon. She may have been a pretty useless First Minister, but as a showbiz diva, she knocks it out the park. She made a teasing appearance at the Govanhill International Festival. Said nothing about the book, but of course, the media turned up just in case. Then it was on to the Times and Sunday Times, which gave her the star treatment, doing her hair and make-up and dressing her in chic outfits, just like Vogue all those years ago.
Since then, she's been a one-woman publicity tornado, throwing out news lines left, right and centre.
With Frankly we can safely say she has broken the mould of political memoirs. Before, they were often dusty, pompous affairs written by men and packed with tales of Whitehall and Cabinet squabbles. Personal revelations, if they had to be included, were kept to a minimum.
Ms Sturgeon, in contrast, has adopted an access all areas, blow the bloody doors off approach. Whatever the subject - Alex Salmond, her arrest, her husband's arrest, the tents on her lawn, the panic attack, the therapy, JK Rowling - nothing seems too personal to be explored, no score too small to settle, even if the other party is dead.
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How does this frankness reflect on women in politics? Is it a breath of fresh air, a long overdue shake-up of accepted norms, or is Ms Sturgeon letting the side down? The test of that will be how many other politicians, male and female, follow her example. Not many, I would guess.
Angela Rayner, perhaps the nearest woman politician to Ms Sturgeon in standing and attitude, would never be so daft as to hand her critics ammunition to use against her. When she revealed her poverty-blighted upbringing and her mother's bipolar disorder, it was as part of a carefully planned strategy in which she controlled the story. She came out of the experience stronger. I don't think the same will apply in Ms Sturgeon's case. In time, I fear she will come to regret being so candid. As she acknowledged, once something is said, it can never be unsaid.
You can already see the direction of travel, and it's not good. Take this intro in the Sunday Times: 'She is Britain's most successful female politician since Margaret Thatcher, but her reign ended in arrest, recriminations and divorce'. Oh dear, and it was going so well up to Thatcher. Generally speaking, if life starts to resemble an Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical, it is time to have a word with yourself.
Which musical would that be, you ask? Why Evita, of course. I think it was Jackson Carlaw who first called Ms Sturgeon 'Scotland's Evita' because of her diplomatic travels at the time. But the wide-brimmed hat has fitted ever since.
Think of the similarities: the bought council house to Bute House trajectory; the adoration of the crowds; the rows and scandals. Every great musical needs a belter of an ending, and Ms Sturgeon, as per the diva code, has provided one - she's offski to London.
That's how this chapter of her life ends, according to the book and an interview with the BBC's Newscast. She told the latter: 'Suffocating is maybe putting it too strongly, but I feel sometimes I can't breathe freely in Scotland.' How diva is that?
Does Nicola Sturgeon have a dash of Evita about her? (Image: free) She also fancies travelling a bit and writing a novel. Hurrah to the first, get out there while you can, but please God no to the second. I can imagine some dreary tome involving a woman and an unfathomable sorrow that can only be healed by hours of staring out the window.
If Ms Sturgeon is determined to go, as seems likely, Scotland has a choice: take the high road and bid her ae fond farewell, or go the more traditional route and hope the door doesn't hit her backside on the way out. I know which is more tempting, but as we are constantly telling ourselves, Scotland is better than that.
I don't know where this particular ex-First Minister goes from here. She wouldn't sit in the Lords. She's too polarising to be a Party grandee, offering sage advice now and then. She could take the think tank/academic route, but the way she is still twisting this way and that over the rapist Isla Bryson, doesn't suggest clarity of thought.
My gut feeling says she fancies television. It would be risky (see point about polarising, above). Or charity. Lead the push for indyref 2? Don't be silly.
She doesn't see a debate with JK Rowling in her future, believing the author wouldn't be up for it, but Rowling might call her bluff. I'd buy tickets.
Ms Sturgeon seems to be enjoying herself on the publicity circuit, but it will end before she knows it. The party conference season starts soon, and between then and Christmas, another batch of political memoirs will arrive in bookshops. She'll be yesterday's news, like yesterday's First Minister, and I cannot see that sitting well. She is too used to the spotlight, even if it has been unwelcome at times.
While writing about Ms Sturgeon lately, a couple of songs have become earworms. There's the classic, Don't Cry for Me Argentina ('And as for fortune, and as for fame, I never invited them in').
Gloria, sung by Laura Branigan, is the other ('Gloria, don't you think you're falling? If everybody wants you, why isn't anybody calling?'). I'd steer clear of that last one.
Perhaps the book festival crowd can advise. If nothing else, it will be something new to talk about.