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The Independent
17 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
The biggest revelations from Nicola Sturgeon's memoir – from JK Rowling to arrest and bullying
From being interviewed under caution as part of Operation Branchform, to leading a failed bid for Scottish independence, Nicola Sturgeon's time in office – and the years after it – were far from ordinary. In her long-awaited memoir, Frankly, the former Scottish first minister details how it felt to have police raid the home she shared with her ex-husband Peter Murrell, as well as shedding light on her relationship with her predecessor Alex Salmond and the row over trans rights that dominated her final months in the job. Here, The Independent looks at the key takeaways from Ms Sturgeon's explosive memoir. 'Utter disbelief' when police raided her home The former SNP leader has outlined her overwhelming emotions when her home became the subject of a police raid over a probe into the SNP's finances that culminated in the arrest of her then-husband in April 2024. She said she felt 'utter disbelief' when the raid took place. 'With police tents all around it, it looked more like a murder scene than the place of safety it had always been for me. I was devastated, mortified, confused and terrified', she wrote. The weeks that followed, Ms Sturgeon said, felt like she had 'fallen into the plot of a dystopian novel". She also said her arrest, which took place two months later, was 'the worst day' of her life and described it as an experience she is 'not sure [she] will ever get over'. Ms Sturgeon was later exonerated, but her ex-husband has been charged with embezzlement. The trans row that dominated her final months in office Ms Sturgeon also used her memoir to shed light on the division over trans rights that dominated her final months in office, something she described as being a time of 'rancour and division'. While she accepts that many have legitimate concerns about women's spaces, she argued the debate has been 'hijacked by voices on the far right'. 'The inconvenient truth', she argues, is that 'many of the most vocal deriders of trans rights, when the surface is scratched, turn out to be raging homophobes too. Some are also racists. And ironically... more than a few are also deeply misogynist.' But the ex-SNP leader also admitted to having regrets about how she went about trying to legislate to make it easier for people to change gender, weighing up whether or not she should have 'hit the pause button" when she realised how polarised the debate had become to try and reach a consensus. While she still argues in favour of gender identification, she said that with hindsight, she wishes she had aimed for more of a consensus on the issue. Pandemic still brings up a 'torrent of emotion' Laying bare the challenges of leading Scotland during the pandemic, the former first minister said it was "almost indescribably" hard and "took a heavy toll, physically and mentally" – finding herself sleeping just three or four hours a night over the first lockdown. She also said she came 'perilously close to a breakdown' around the time of her appearance in front of the Covid-19 inquiry, saying she will be forever haunted by fears that going into lockdown earlier could have saved more lives. Speaking about when she broke down in tears while giving evidence, Ms Sturgeon wrote: "For the first time in my life, I sought professional help. It took several counselling sessions before I was able to pull myself back from the brink.' Rumours about an affair with a French diplomat Ms Sturgeon's book also saw her address what she said were 'wild stories' about her having a lesbian affair with a French diplomat, saying the speculation was rooted in homophobia. 'For many of those peddling it, 'lesbian' and 'gay' are meant as insults. There was naked bigotry behind the attempted smearing of me that deeply disturbs me, because of what it says about the prejudice still prevalent in our society.' The politician also said she had never seen her sexuality as being binary. "Long-term relationships with men have accounted for more than thirty years of my life, but I have never considered sexuality, my own included, to be binary. Moreover, sexual relationships should be private matters." Alex Salmond and the independence white paper Ms Sturgeon suggests that Alex Salmond, her predecessor as first minister and former mentor, did not do his share of the heavy lifting ahead of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, accusing him of having failed to read the white paper on independence. She recalls being left in charge of drafting the paper, which she said left her 'overcome by a feeling of sheer impossibility' and 'utter despair'. 'I ended up on the floor of my home office, crying and struggling to breathe. It was definitely some kind of panic attack', Ms Sturgeon wrote. She later said Mr Salmond showed 'little interest in the detail' of the document, adding: 'He promised he would read it on the plane. I knew his good intention would not survive contact with the first glass of in-flight champagne.' 'Witch-hunt' MSPs investigating Sturgeon 'were directed by Salmond' Ms Sturgeon said she believes some MSPs who investigated the Scottish government's handling of sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond were 'taking direction' from him. She wrote that she thought either Mr Salmond or his allies were guiding some opposition MSPs on what to ask her, accusing her opponents in the special Holyrood committee of a 'witch-hunt' against her. The committee ultimately found Ms Sturgeon misled the Scottish Parliament over the Salmond inquiry. However, she said the probe that 'really mattered' was the independent investigation by senior Irish lawyer James Hamilton, which cleared her of breaking the ministerial code. 'From day one, it seemed clear that some of the opposition members of the committee were much less interested in establishing facts, or making sure lessons were learned, than they were in finding some way to blame it all on me', she wrote. 'I was told, and I believe it to be true, that some of the opposition MSPs were taking direction from Alex himself – though possibly through an intermediary – on the points to pursue and the questions to ask.' Ms Sturgeon also said her infamous falling out with her predecessor was a 'bruising episode' of her life as she accused Mr Salmond of creating a 'conspiracy theory' to defend himself from reckoning with misconduct allegations, of which he was cleared in court.
Spectator
a day ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Is Nicola Sturgeon liberated or lost?
Nicola Sturgeon isn't someone for whom oversharing comes naturally. Throughout her career, she has regularly been labelled 'dour' or 'frosty' by both her opponents and those on her own side. As her profile grew through the 2010s, so did her popularity among the SNP's expanding membership – and in her first week of being party leader she mustered a 12,000-strong crowd with which to celebrate in Glasgow's Hydro. But she remained an introvert with a tight-knit circle of few friends. 'I can come alive on a stage in front of thousands of people, but put me at a dinner table with four people and I will struggle much, much more,' she told the Sunday Times. While so much has been written about Scotland's former first minister, there don't seem to be many people who really know her. It's unclear, also, whether she knows herself. Sturgeon's new memoir Frankly (which is out today) and the interviews that have accompanied it seem like an attempt to shrug off that reservedness. The events of the last two years – Sturgeon's gender bill; her impromptu resignation; the Operation Branchform police probe into SNP finances – have been dissected, judged and criticised relentlessly. Now Scotland's former leader is giving people the opportunity to see things from her point of view. Her critics say she is less offering insight, more rewriting history. Sturgeon's interview with ITV's Julie Etchingham sees elements of both. One of the controversies that, some suggest, prompted her resignation in February 2023 was the Gender Recognition Reform Bill – and the case of Isla Bryson. Sturgeon still struggles to call the sexual offender a man and pointedly sticks to 'they/them' pronouns. While she admits that she 'lost the dressing room' on the gender debate, calling it 'her failure', the former FM appears to regret her communication, rather than the substance of her argument. The closest Sturgeon gets to admitting she might have been wrong on the best way to protect trans people is when she says: 'We lost all sense of rationality in this debate. I am partly responsible for that… I should have said, okay, let's pause. Let's take a step back.' It is clear Sturgeon doesn't know how to square this particular circle – but that there is a vocal group of people she is conscious of upsetting. She hints at this briefly: 'Anything I say about Isla Bryson, in the wider world, will be immediately taken and transferred to every trans person. And if I sometimes still seem as if I'm struggling with how to define Isla Bryson, it's not out of any concern for Bryson, it's out of concern for how that then affects the wider trans community.' There are three moments when glimpses of real, unfiltered emotion are seen in the ITV interview. When the police arrived at her door with a search warrant over an embezzlement investigation, the former first minister left for her parents' house. She sounds unnerved as she tries to describe the day, saying she can't remember much except shock at photos that made her home look 'like a murder scene'. She describes her own arrest some months later as the worst day of her life. 'Do you stand by that you knew nothing?' Etchingham asks. 'If there had been any evidence that I had done anything that constituted a criminal offence, I wouldn't be sitting here right now having been cleared by the police,' Sturgeon replies, in a way that doesn't quite answer the question. Covid is an emotive issue for the woman who led Scotland through the pandemic. Sturgeon's daily press conferences and decision making saw her popularity – and that of independence – soar at the time, though she was later accused of having pursued her own public health strategy for political gain. With Etchingham, she discusses how she started going to therapy a few weeks after the Covid inquiry. Yet talking about how she felt when she sought help proves difficult for a woman who has over the last decade demonstrated an otherwise uncanny ability to hold herself together. Sturgeon admits she didn't tell her mum that she had gone to counselling – and makes a mental note on screen to explain this to her 'before she gets to this bit in the book'. And it was talk about Salmond's death that prompted something of another visceral reaction from his onetime protégée. The Salmond-Sturgeon fallout tore apart the 'Yes' movement, leaving a pair that had hoped to secure independence together at each other's throats. To ITV, Sturgeon says: 'Do I believe he behaved inappropriately – that's different to criminally inappropriately – on some occasions towards women? I believe that, and… instead of acknowledging that and showing contrition and apologising for that, he doubled down.' His death conjures up strange feelings. 'He died, and I hadn't spoken to him for years,' Sturgeon admits. 'I went through this period of I would still talk to him in my head. I would have vivid dreams that we were still on good terms. And then I'd have this feeling of such sadness when I remembered the reality, so I went through that process. I still missed him in some bizarre way. Even today, I still miss him in some way. The person that I used to know in the relationship I used to have.' Elsewhere, Sturgeon keeps her answers superficial. On preparing for the 2014 indyref, she said that while the SNP had been 'caught a bit off guard' and lacked positions that would 'withstand the full glare of scrutiny', the party turned things around with their white paper (which, she claims, Salmond never read). On issues of governance, she switches back into politician mode, shrugging: 'Do I wish I had done more? Of course I do.' An expression of distaste flickers across her face at the mention of the Reform surge in Scotland and on Nigel Farage she is scathing about his 'fragile ego' and 'bravado'. The interview swings between political events and personal travesties, with talk of her miscarriage a tender point. She's candid: 'I carry a sense of guilt that I miscarried a baby, because I had been conflicted about the pregnancy.' She jokes later, on a more light-hearted note, that getting a tattoo at 55 is a 'mid-life crisis alert'. Its infinity-arrow design, she divulges, symbolises strength, resilience and her continuing to move forward. Nicola Sturgeon has been a politician for so much of her life that you get the sense she doesn't know who she is outside of that. Her detractors will dismiss her memoir and these interviews as a blatant attempt to reshape a narrative that slipped out of her control in recent years. But it feels much less contrived than that. The former first minister has chosen to expose herself while still in a period of transition. 'I do feel a sense of liberation,' she smiles a little uncertainly at Etchingham as the interview wraps up. But she still seems lost, too.
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
Nicola Sturgeon TV interview: How to watch and when
The former first minister has sat down with ITV's News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham. Nicola Sturgeon is set to speak in an in-depth interview on Monday evening. The former first minister has sat down with ITV's News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham. It comes just days before the release of her new book. The Record will be covering all the action with a live blog. Where can I watch Nicola Sturgeon's interview? The interview will be broadcast on STV, STV Player and ITV. What time is it on at? The interview goes live at 7pm on Monday evening. Why is Nicola Sturgeon doing the interview? The former first minister is speaking ahead of the release of her political memoir on Thursday. The book is named Frankly. A serialisation has already appeared in The Times and The Sunday Times. Sturgeon will also be appearing at the Edinburgh Festivals on Thursday for the release of the book. What has Sturgeon said so far? Some of the lines from the interview and book have already been released. Sturgeon has said that she still misses her mentor Alex Salmond 'in some way' despite the pair falling out after sexual misconduct allegations against him became public. She said she was hit by a 'wave of grief' after hearing of his death in October last year and that she "started crying on the phone". Sturgeon also described Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as "odious" and said he "comes across as somebody who's got a very, very fragile ego. Somebody who's not particularly comfortable, particularly around women." She also admitted she 'didn't anticipate' how much criticism her controversial gender reform legislation would garner. On top of this, she addressed Operation Branchform, saying part of her "closed down" when she was questioned as part of the investigation into the SNP's finances. Who is Nicola Sturgeon? Nicola Sturgeon served at first minister between 2014 and 2023. She had overseen 10 election victories in her time as SNP leader. Before becoming first minister, she had been deputy first minister for seven years. She served a total of 10 years as Salmond's deputy. Her resignation two years ago came as a shock. She was replaced by Humza Yousaf, who was swapped out a year later for Sturgeon's former deputy John Swinney.
ITV News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ITV News
Nicola Sturgeon: My arrest was 'horrific' and part of me 'closed down'
Scotland's former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has described the day she was arrested as 'horrific' and 'the worst day of her life.' In an exclusive interview with ITV News, ahead of the release of her memoir, Frankly, Sturgeon talks about the day of her arrest, telling Julie Etchingham, "I think a part of me just closed down." She also described the "horror, upset and shame" of her husband's arrest in April 2023. In a wide-ranging and frank discussion, the former first minister also expressed regret in her handling of transgender legislation during her time in office, admitting she should have 'paused' the legislation when the debate became polarised. She writes in her book, 'I have never considered sexuality, my own included, to be binary,' adding that she was 'enjoying being her own person for a while'. Over the past few years, the Scottish National Party has been embroiled in a financial scandal. This resulted in a police investigation examining criminal wrongdoing around the SNP's finances, named Operation Branchform. On April 5 2023, Peter Murrell, Sturgeon's then husband and SNP chief executive, was arrested by Police Scotland at the couple's Glasgow home in connection with Operation Branchform. Nicola Sturgeon was herself arrested on June 11 in connection with the same investigation. She would later be cleared of all charges, but her husband, from whom she's now separated, would go on to be charged with embezzlement, events she described as "horrific". The former first minister told ITV News' Julie Etchingham that she had 'blocked out' the details of her husband's arrest at their family home. Sturgeon said she still found it difficult to articulate how she felt seeing her husband arrested. 'It wasn't until I got to mum and dad's that I saw the pictures of my house looking like a murder scene, effectively,' she said. 'I had this sense of horror, upset, and the kind of shame of it all.' 'I think part of me just closed down,' she said. Her time in office was not without its share of difficulties, either. Towards the end of Sturgeon's tenure, she introduced legislation aimed at making it easier for transgender people to self-identify their gender, without a medical diagnosis. But the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill went on to spark a 'divisive" and at times 'toxic' debate over gender identity, eventually leading to April's Supreme Court ruling against the Scottish government on the issue. ITV News asked the former FM how she felt about the fact that the fallout of the debate around her reforms may have made things worse for the lives of transgender people across the UK. 'When this was first mooted, it was not the divisive, toxic, controversial issue it became,' explained Sturgeon. Reflecting on the shape the debate took, however, she signalled some regret, admitting she should have 'taken a step back' and 'paused' the legislation. She nevertheless added: 'I fervently believe that the rights of women and the interests of trans people are not irreconcilable at all. I should have taken a step back and said, 'How do we achieve this?'" In a personal revelation, Sturgeon writes in her book:' I have never considered sexuality, my own included, to be binary.' Expanding, she described it to ITV News as 'just [her] view of the world, and life, and the way people are.' She went on to clarify, 'If you're about to ask me, 'Am I making some big revelation?' No. 'Am I putting labels on myself?' No, I'm just… that's how I see the world.' Whilst the former first minister didn't rule out the possibility of a relationship with a woman, she added: 'Look, I'm just out of a marriage, so I'm not rushing into a relationship with anyone anytime soon. 'I'm enjoying being my own person for a while.'
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon: The 'powerhouse' of Scottish politics?
From her public fallout with Alex Salmond and a shocking police investigation and even rumours about her sexuality, her life as a politician has played out in the eyes of the world in a way that many before her have never experienced. Since the Scottish Parliament reconvened 25 years ago, Ms Sturgeon has been a mainstay of the Holyrood corridors. Ms Sturgeon's influence on UK politics is rarely disputed, even if her record in government is often criticised for a drug deaths crisis and a failure to narrow the educational attainment gap. Every move – both political and person – has been under immense scrutiny. And yet in May 2026, she will call time on her political career. By that point, it will have been more than three years since she resigned as first minister and SNP leader. But before she goes, the former first minister will release her autobiography Frankly next week, on August 14. Read more: Ms Sturgeon has already shared that the book will be deeply personal, covering every success and failure of her political career. For those of us who have interacted with Ms Sturgeon over the years, it had been clear being at the helm of Scottish politics had taken its toll. It may then seem surprising that the former first minister would want to share every detail of her life with the public in her memoir, particularly as she has sought privacy from the shockwaves of Operation Branchform – the police probe into SNP finances. Ms Sturgeon was arrested and questioned about the case in June 2023 but was informed in March this year the investigation had concluded and she was no longer a suspect. Her husband Peter Murrell – who she is now divorcing – was charged in April 2024 with embezzlement. The case rumbles on as the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service confirmed his next court appearance has yet to be set. Is this a case then of the former first minister trying to reclaim her legacy? A source close to the former first minister told The Herald on Sunday: 'I think being freed from the constraints of office, albeit she is still an MSP but is standing down, it means she is perhaps more able, and will be more able in the years to come, to discover about the person she is rather than the politician she has been literally all of her adult life. On a professional level, it is all she has ever done. (Image: PA) 'The nature of politics, especially in this day and age, it doesn't really give people any leeway.' 'Politics is a brutal business and it doesn't cut people any slack, certainly when you're as prominent, high-profile and senior as she was for so many years, it's very hard to have a life of your own,' the insider said. 'I think that's something that she probably realises now that she is almost completely freed, notwithstanding a few months to go as an MSP, but almost certainly freed of the burden, if you like. 'I think she is realising for the first time just how constraining the life of a senior politician has been for her in all sorts of ways.' You just have to take a look at the former first minister's social media posts to see she is already feeling lighter from the burden of politics. There has been a gradual opening up in recent months with glimpses of gym sessions, driving lessons and cocktails with friends. Ms Sturgeon is building her life away from politics – but she may never escape the attention of her public persona. It is not an understatement to suggest that Nicola Sturgeon is up there with the highest profile politicians Scotland has ever seen. But does her time in office and her legacy match up to that lofty moniker though? Ask the future of the SNP and they will tell you of her 'overwhelmingly positive legacy'. David Barrett, an SNP candidate for Cowdenbeath in next year's election, said: 'She was and still is internationally recognised as the powerhouse of Scottish politics.' He added: 'She has an enormous legacy that I think the public recognises. There may be people that want to cast negative aspects to her legacy and they will desperately try to do that. They can try to undermine her legacy if they want to but they will fail.' But within her own party, there are those who believe she is to blame for the party's very significant decline in popularity. Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry is among the most outspoken of those critics. Read more: She has repeatedly described her former leader's reign over the SNP as a 'failure' and 'divisive'. Take her recent Scottish Daily Mail column. The KC lambasts Ms Sturgeon's record on health, education, poverty, transport – and of course, the failure to secure independence. She asks whether the Scottish Child Payment and the baby box – two policies often cited as Ms Sturgeon's key successes – are 'the height of her legacy'. Ms Cherry wrote: 'She repeatedly promised a second referendum she knew she could not deliver, issuing a never-ending list of dates and targets which she missed. 'She marched her troops up and down the hill until many of them deserted in disgust.' It would of course be remiss not to mention the significant fallout between Ms Cherry and Ms Sturgeon, caused by a number of political and personal reasons, including the former first minister's focus on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which aimed to simplify the process of a transgender individual to change their legal gender. (Image: PA) Ms Cherry has always been a fierce defender of Alex Salmond, the predecessor and mentor of Ms Sturgeon. The row between the two former first ministers rocked the SNP and has lasting implications for the independence movement the pair once built. Under Ms Sturgeon's tenure, the Scottish Government admitted it acted unlawfully while investigating sexual harassment allegations against Mr Salmond. He was cleared of 13 allegations in 2020 but his allies have always accused Ms Sturgeon of participating in a plot against him. Ms Sturgeon resigned as first minister on her own terms while still a significantly popular figure. There can be no doubt that her resignation - and the events that followed - changed her party forever. Ipsos's political monitoring put the SNP on 50% of the Holyrood constituency vote in December 2022. Since her resignation, it has narrowed consistently, reaching 34% in June 2025 - a record low since 2010. She was the face of daily Covid-19 briefings while the country was on lockdown – a move winning her significant support with the public. But the pandemic inquiry that followed have done her legacy no favours. It was revealed that all of Ms Sturgeon's WhatsApp messages from this time had been deleted. Those who lost loved ones to the virus, especially those who were transferred from hospital to a care home while testing positive with the virus, would argue this is a significant part of her legacy. Regardless of how Ms Sturgeon describes her own legacy in her memoir, it will do little to convince her critics. Her close ally describes it: 'If you are subject to scrutiny that she describes, I think there's probably an element of 'I want to be my own person but I'm going to tell it how it is and how I see it'. 'Is that magically going to stop mischief-making and speculation? No. 'If she had been entirely honest and candid, would she rather things hadn't been so intrusive and hadn't been dissected so much? Absolutely. But I think she realises and recognises that it goes with the territory." The source added: 'She elevated the status and the office of first minister and by extension the status of Scotland in a way and to a level that has never been the case previously. 'She was and remains a figure of international interest.' As the sun sets on Ms Sturgeon's political career, there are a range of opinions surrounding her. Whether you believe she has been a positive or negative figure on Scottish politics, it is clear why so many are desperate to know just what the former first minister will reveal in her memoir.
