IT was once said of Rod Stewart, when in the 1970s he transformed from spiky frontman of the Faces to spiky-haired, leopard skin-clad purveyor of bland pop ballads, that “rarely has anyone betrayed their talent so completely”.
There will be those today who will apply that epithet to Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon announced on Wednesday her plans to stand down as an MSP[/caption]
For a decade, Nicola Sturgeon was a dominant politician and election winner[/caption]
The former First Minister announced yesterday that she will stand down at the Holyrood election in May 2026. The response has been mixed, to put it kindly.
For a decade, Sturgeon was mistress of all she surveyed — the dominant politician here, a serial election winner who was taken to the hearts of the Scottish people.
She appeared to have it all: charisma, charm, ambition, empathy, decisiveness.
As she prepares to depart politics after 26 years as an MSP, John Swinney said he was “very sorry” to see her go.
But other judgments have been much harsher — the former First Minister was accused of dividing Scotland over independence and gender law reform and of failing to tackle reform of the nation’s ailing schools and hospitals.
Her critics, sadly, have a point and it is a sad end to the career of devolution’s biggest figure.
Sturgeon’s announcement comes with a police investigation into the misuse of SNP funds during her leadership still to be resolved. Independence, the goal that fires the hearts of Sturgeon and those in her party, is once again a distant dream.
Many of the policies she launched, particularly in her last few years, have been jettisoned by Swinney. Her legacy, given the length of her time in office and the power she wielded, is disappointingly thin.
To her credit, she introduced the Child Payment, which helps thousands of kids living in poverty. She launched the Scottish National Investment Bank and Social Security Scotland.
How Nicola Sturgeon could make MILLIONS after politics
NICOLA Sturgeon could be set to rake in millions after stepping down as an MSP, an expert has claimed.
The former First Minister already has a several different revenue streams in place for her life post-politics and has allegedly made more than £640,00 since leaving Scotland’s top job.
And once the dust settles on her time in Holyrood, popular culture expert Nick Ede reckons the ex-FM has the “power to make millions”.
He told the Scottish Sun: “Nicola will be able to make far more than she did when she was a politician – she’s got the power to make millions with lucrative deals.
“Whatever she decides, she can make millions and profit from her past and also use it to steer a more positive narrative about herself.”
Perhaps the Covid epidemic was her finest hour. Her regular, televised addresses to the nation provided a clarity and reassurance that was often missing from PM Boris Johnson.
Voters were grateful for her empathy and hard work, even if it later emerged that outcomes in Scotland were no better than south of the border.
And her record was tarnished when she admitted to the Covid inquiry that she had deleted important WhatsApp messages during the crisis.
But the charge sheet against her is longer.
Her relentless pursuit of a second indyref split eventually exhausted the country.
She promised to close the attainment gap between poor and better-off kids in schools, but instead it grew wider.
She stuck with free tuition at universities, a policy that is unaffordable and unsustainable and is in part responsible for Dundee Uni’s announcement this week of 600 job cuts. Her attempt to reform Scotland’s gender laws was badly handled and led to a backlash from women who felt their rights were under threat.
Sturgeon treated her opponents on this issue appallingly, completely mishandled the politics, and eventually the policy was blocked by the UK Government.
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There was the Named Person scheme, an invasion into family life that was abandoned after falling foul of the courts.
The ban on fishing which led to a rebellion in coastal communities that were once fertile territory for the SNP. The bottle return scheme that was scrapped.
But perhaps worst of all, a coalition with the Scottish Greens that brought cranks into the heart of Scotland’s government, shifted it to the hard left, and saw taxes soar on middle earners as well as the wealthy.
Sturgeon is a former Health Secretary, but on her watch the NHS declined to the point that medics warn it could be on its last legs without urgent treatment.
Councils were stripped of autonomy. The wealth-creating business community was treated with contempt, while public sector workers were spoiled with generous pay deals and working conditions.
Sturgeon could — and should — have done better.
John Swinney and Kate Forbes are showing how an SNP government can focus on mainstream priorities such as the economy and public services.
She chose not to do that.
The ex-FM is a complex person — introverted and shy but able to hold vast crowds in the palm of her hand; dryly funny, self-deprecating and kind in private but forbidding, unapologetic and argumentative in public; a one-time titan who looked to have a big international career in front of her but who now largely seems to spend her time hosting events on the book festival circuit.
She will at least now have plenty time to consider where and why it all went wrong.
