Then she utters a surprising aside which, if someone else had said it, she might have justifiably resented.<\/p>\n
\u201cAch, look at me in these scruffy old things,\u201d the former Scottish National Party<\/a> (SNP) leader says with a smile but still somewhat apologetically.<\/p>\n Despite the rising temperatures I\u2019m huffing like a sweaty dolt in a formal blazer, regretting my sartorial choices. Sturgeon, meanwhile, is far more appropriately coiffed in light, casual clothes.<\/p>\n And they\u2019re neither scruffy nor old, not that it matters. But as we shake hands, my mind returns to a section of her new memoir, Frankly, where she laments the sexism that means women in politics are unfairly judged on their clothing in a way that men are not.<\/p>\n In her book, Sturgeon, is often harsh on herself.<\/p>\n \u201cOn many days, even at the height of my political powers, the toughest battle I would fight was with the voice in my head telling me I wasn\u2019t good enough,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n And as we sit down, she says: \u201cThat lack of confidence, that female sense that you\u2019re not good enough \u2013 the impostor syndrome \u2026 it also became my superpower because it drove me on to try to make up for it by working harder than everybody else.\u201d <\/p>\n Writing about herself rather than talking is Sturgeon \u201cin her comfort zone\u201d.<\/p>\n In Frankly, she gets comfortable discussing everything from her opinions on British prime ministers such as Boris Johnson<\/a> and taoisigh Enda Kenny<\/a> and Leo Varadkar<\/a> to her travails as Scotland\u2019s leader during Covid and her failed efforts to win Scottish independence.<\/p>\n Sturgeon reveals her unlikely friendship with Martin McGuinness<\/a>, the late former Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, and discusses the behind-the-scenes co-operation between the SNP and the Republic of Ireland during the tumult of the Brexit<\/a> negotiation years.<\/p>\n She also reveals much of herself in a candid, if one-sided, account of her bitter falling out with her old mentor, the late Alex Salmond<\/a>, as well as her shock decision to step down as Scottish first minister in spring 2023 \u2013 Sturgeon still insists it had nothing to do with an SNP financial scandal that would break just eight days later.<\/p>\n She was arrested in that matter but never charged and always maintained her innocence of any wrongdoing. But the affair has still clouded some perceptions of her.<\/p>\n A leisurely sit-down with her on Monday this week confirms what is obvious in her new book: Sturgeon is a talented and complicated person who juggles certain contradictions.<\/p>\n She was SNP leader or deputy leader for more than 18 years, a politician of substance. While Sturgeon may be seen as one of the most articulate leaders of recent decades who often shone in big moments, she still considers herself a \u201cshy, awkward introvert\u201d.<\/p>\n There are other contradictions.<\/p>\n Once the victim of puerile, unsubstantiated gossip about lesbian affairs (which she denies), she argues her love life should be nobody\u2019s business.<\/p>\n Yet out of nowhere, she also chooses to announce in her book that her sexuality is \u201cnot binary,\u201d a revelation that will inevitably lead some to wonder if she is clearing the way to be redefined in future. She split earlier this year from her husband, former SNP official Peter Murrell, who was at the heart of the party\u2019s financial scandal that broke after her exit from the party.<\/p>\n In the Lowry bar on Monday, Sturgeon is always a half a yard out of the metaphorical reach of her interviewer. I can never quite seem to catch up with her as she flits between disarming openness and cautious reserve; between self-assurance over her legacy to moments of uncertainty over key decisions; between gregariousness and icy suspicion at certain questions.<\/p>\n She was a working-class Ayrshire law graduate who became the \u201crock star politician\u201d who dominated Scottish politics for a decade.<\/p>\n In a vivid and moving passage about a miscarriage she suffered around New Year\u2019s Eve in 2010, she discusses her guilt for once wanting to be childless. She never had children. <\/p>\n Isn\u2019t it uncomfortable for a self-described introvert such as Sturgeon to discuss such intimate details of her life with people whom she barely knows?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m no stranger to intense scrutiny of every aspect of my life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cPutting the details down in your own words and being asked about them feels exposing and makes you vulnerable. But I wanted to write my story in my words. You owe it to readers to put something of yourself in it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sturgeon says there are \u201ccaricatures aplenty\u201d of her in Scotland that she wants to avoid.<\/p>\n Like many Scottish nationalists, she also has an affinity for and an interest in Ireland, long a model of Celtic aspiration for the independence-seeking SNP.<\/p>\n In Frankly, she describes how she got on well with former taoiseach Enda Kenny at British-Irish Council (BIC) east-west intergovernmental meetings, admiring his \u201cgift of the gab\u201d and how he\u2019d have the UK and devolved nation leaders \u201ceating out of his hand\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Enda,\u201d she says on Monday. \u201cI think he\u2019s absolutely brilliant. It was a running joke at BIC that he\u2019d always arrive massively late. Then he\u2019d sit down and launch into the conversation \u2013 it wouldn\u2019t matter what we were talking about. He would just tell us tales of what had gone on at European Council meetings or whatever. He\u2019d just talk and talk.\u201d<\/p>\n Sturgeon says she was \u201creally fond\u201d of Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, but ultimately she was closer to Varadkar because of the overlap in their terms of office during the toughest years of the Brexit negotiations with Theresa May<\/a> and Johnson.<\/p>\n \u201cLeo won\u2019t mind me saying this, but when I was there [at BIC meetings] he knew he wouldn\u2019t be the only shy person there. He was even more introverted than I was.\u201d<\/p>\n It was McGuinness, however, to whom Sturgeon was most drawn. She believes he saw a sense of vulnerability that resided within her. She writes in Frankly of how he made a beeline to give her \u201cbear hugs\u201d whenever they met.<\/p>\n Sturgeon acknowledges that her recollections of her warm relationship with a former IRA commander may spur criticism in some sections of Scottish society, a nation that knows something of the sectarian divisions that have plagued Northern Ireland over the years. <\/p>\n \u201cI grew up when the Troubles were in full swing and Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were scary guys from the news,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t in any way naive about Martin\u2019s past. But the guy I knew was kind and gentle. His eyes would twinkle at you. He was also 100 per cent committed to the peace process.\u201d<\/p>\n She spoke to him not long before he died in March 2017. He had been \u201chale and hearty\u201d at a BIC meeting in November, but by the time he quit politics on health grounds in January, she was \u201cshocked\u201d by his physical appearance when she saw him on television.<\/p>\n \u201cI texted him. We spoke on the phone. He knew he was seriously ill. We spoke about politics and independence and such matters, of course. But this was a personal thing. I was very fond of Martin. His family invited me to his funeral, but I just wasn\u2019t able to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, she also recalls being in a Glasgow lift with President Michael D Higgins<\/a> in June 2016 as news came through that England had been beaten by Iceland in the European football championships tournament. \u201cWe laughed and a little \u2018wa-hey\u2019 moment about it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The Irish government was, she says, \u201ca useful source of information\u201d for her in the depths of the Brexit negotiations \u2013 Scots had voted to remain in European Union<\/a> in the 2016 referendum on the UK\u2019s membership of the bloc. Meanwhile, Irish sources say the SNP\u2019s then-huge cohort of MPs could also be helpful for the State when Dublin wanted an issue raised in parliament.<\/p>\n Despite Scotland having no obvious political or legal path to ceding from the United Kingdom \u2013 an issue that, along with transgender culture wars, contributed to Sturgeon\u2019s political exit \u2013 she predicts independence for Scotland within 20 years. She also mentions a \u201creunified Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n Does she really believe there will a united Ireland alongside an independent Scotland within two decades? \u201cYes. Or even less. If one happened, there would be an impact on the other. Looking from the outside, I think Ireland will be unified again.\u201d<\/p>\n Sturgeon writes in Frankly about how she could feel a sense of support for Scottish independence from Irish people in the post-Brexit years. She also clearly reciprocates on Irish unification.<\/p>\n \u201cI was always careful when first minister not to express a view on it. But my personal view would not be a surprise to you.\u201d<\/p>\n I miss the person I thought he was. I miss the relationship we used to have<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This might explain why she never had a close relationship with Arlene Foster<\/a>, the former DUP leader and first minister of the North. \u201cAlso, many women of our age have to become a bit austere to get on in politics.\u201d (Both are 55 and were born two days apart.)<\/p>\n Sturgeon did not like Johnson: \u201cI don\u2019t like talking in terms of \u2018liking\u2019 people, so maybe I should just say I didn\u2019t have much respect for him. He doesn\u2019t take anything seriously. In the pandemic, I found that difficult to take. Yes, he can make you laugh. But he thinks you\u2019re laughing with him, at how brilliant he is, when often you\u2019re laughing because the alternative is to cry.\u201d<\/p>\n She had an awkward personal relationship with May, although she was the British prime minister Sturgeon respected the most. The one she got on best with was David Cameron<\/a>, who gave Scottish nationalists the 2014 independence referendum they looked set to win at one stage but which they eventually lost.<\/p>\n Apart from herself, the most textured character in Sturgeon\u2019s book is former SNP leader and first minister Salmond, who died of a heart attack last October. They had been politically close for years \u2013 she was his deputy and heir \u2013 but they fell out over her handling of allegations within the SNP of historical sexual misconduct by Salmond.<\/p>\n He was later found not guilty in court, a fact to which Sturgeon does not give much accord in Frankly. Instead, she focuses more on their bitter falling out, which she blames on him, and what she still insists was his \u201cinappropriate\u201d behaviour.<\/p>\n They hadn\u2019t spoken for years by the time he died. Still, does she miss him? Sturgeon hesitates.<\/p>\n \u201cI miss the person I thought he was. I miss the relationship we used to have. We had gone from being the closest allies to arch enemies,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n As any follower of Scottish politics might agree, so too is Sturgeon, one of the most gifted, scrutinised, criticised and significant politicians of recent decades.<\/p>\n Nicola Sturgeon will be in conversation with Susan McKay at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace<\/a> on Tuesday, August 19th and with Matt Cooper in the National Concert Hall<\/a> on Wednesday, August 20th. Both events are sold out. Frankly is published by Pan Macmillan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You know there\u2019s another British heatwave coming \u2013 this summer\u2019s fourth \u2013 when even Manchester is balmy. Yet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,4537,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-4160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-snp","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news","23":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Nicola](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/DBQYPG7XTFC5RHN6NRMR2J7ULA.jpg\")
Nicola Sturgeon speaks to reporters in March after announcing she will stand down as an member of the Scottish parliament. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty <\/p>\n![\"Nicola](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/QJL7ZZOONHO7FZXBAIRJIDPUK4.jpg\")
Nicola Sturgeon is hugged as she arrives at the SNP annual conference in Aberdeen in 2023. Photograph: Andrew Milligan\/PA <\/p>\n![\"Nicola](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/W3OUXXKGNRBZPMMMEMY2QH44HI.jpg\")
Nicola Sturgeon reacts at the count centre in Glasgow after votes are counted in the UK 2019 general election, which was won by Boris Johnson. Photograph: Andy Buchanan\/Getty <\/p>\n\n