Back to Scotland, where the SNP’s Dear Leader is back in the news — literally, this time. It transpires that Nicola Sturgeon will be one of ITV’s election night pundits during the overnight vote count. The former first minister will appear alongside Ed Balls and George Osborne to provide expert analysis while the election results come out, with Sturgeon billed by the broadcaster as a ‘political insider’. You can say that again…
But where Sturgeon goes, drama is never too far behind. Predictably the former FM’s critics have been quick to lambast the ex-SNP leader, with charges of hypocrisy levelled at Sturgeon for accepting a gig her party once blasted Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson for. Back in 2019, Baroness Davidson was invited on by the exact same broadcaster to give analysis during ITV’s election night coverage. It later emerged that Davidson had accepted at £7,500 pay check for the appearance — prompting outrage from a number of Nats.
Kate Forbes, now Deputy First Minister, said at the time that while she had ‘legged it down to London and done an all-nighter’ to be on the same programme, she had done so for free as ‘part of my job as a serving MSP’. John Nicolson, current SNP candidate for Alloa & Grangemouth, also slammed the ex-Tory leader: ‘MPs/MSPs don’t get paid to do TV interviews as parliamentarians and party representatives. It’s part of our job.’ Angus Robertson, Sturgeon ally and current SNP culture secretary, suggested the Scottish Tory wasn’t putting ‘constituents first’ and said the payment to Davidson was ‘another reminder’ of why she should immediately quit as an MSP while SNP MSP Rona Mackay called on Davidson to return the ‘unprecedented’ payment.
These same politicians are, however, much quieter this time around. Party sources haven’t denied that Sturgeon will be receiving money for the gig, with additional earnings expected to be stated on her parliamentary register of interests ‘in the normal way’. While Nicolson blasted the Baroness for deprioritising constituents, the SNP candidate has been rather silent on Sturgeon’s own lack of contributions in Holyrood — despite revelations that in the first year of her resignation as FM, she only spoke four times. Sturgeon has also not joined any Holyrood committees — but is spending up to 15 hours a week writing her memoirs, for which she will receive a £300,000 advance. How the tables turn…
But with the SNP predicted to face serious losses across Scotland’s central belt, Mr S reckons the outrage over Sturgeon’s appearance might be tempered by close-ups of her live reactions to what may be a rather dismal outcome. Every cloud…
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