In her eight and a half years at Bute House, Nicola Sturgeon has never been one to show much in the way of grace towards ministers down in London. There were the Brexit debates, where she endlessly sought to undermine those involved in negotiations with Brussels. There were the Covid crises, where she sought to claim the moral high ground by pipping Westminster with unannounced rule-changes. And then there was the Gender Recognition Reform Bill where she paid no heed to constitutional law – and ended up paying the price.
So it was no surprise then that Sturgeon’s final act in office – her resignation – was carried out in a similar vein. The Scottish Sun has got hold of documents which show who knew about the First Minister’s resignation before she went on television and announced it to the world. Having been forced to inform the King first of her impending departure, Sturgeon then decided to tell those giants of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. Others in the know included such esteemed colleagues like, er, Chris Mackie, a Scottish government spin doctor and Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales.
Notice anyone missing? Yes, according to the Sun, Sturgeon chose not to tell the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of her resignation – despite her talk about working with the ‘four nations.’ Colin McAllister, Sturgeon’s chief of staff, described the first people to know about her decision to step down as ‘the magic circle’. Clearly, that didn’t extend to the head of the UK government, which the Scottish people chose to remain part of less than a decade ago. McAllister also said the First Minister was ‘comfortable’ with potential leaks after Sky and the BBC were given early invites to a special press conference at Bute House. Not to No. 10 though it seems…
Classy to the end, eh?
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