{"id":990,"date":"2025-08-15T02:09:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=990"},"modified":"2025-08-15T02:09:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:09:35","slug":"frankly-nicola-sturgeons-memoir-of-scottish-politics-vs-personal-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=990","title":{"rendered":"Frankly \u2014 Nicola Sturgeon\u2019s memoir of Scottish politics vs personal life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=98ad53fe-6eae-4ae1-9d97-906054faeff1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Addressing her Scottish National party just before she became her nation\u2019s first female first minister in 2014, Nicola Sturgeon had the almost \u201cout-of-body\u201d sensation that her younger self was nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe shy, dour, always self-doubting, frumpy girl was standing in the wings watching a confident, articulate, almost stylish version of herself bestride the stage and wondering, \u2018Who is that woman? Is she real?\u2019 \u201d Sturgeon recounts in her memoir <em>Frankly<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The moment says much about the inner life of one of the most influential UK politicians of modern times. Sturgeon played a central role in the 2014 independence referendum that rocked the three century-old union between Scotland and England. As first minister \u2014 she took office just after the referendum \u2014 she kept the flame of Scottish independence alight and won international renown as a champion of progressive causes from gender-balanced government to action against climate change. <\/p>\n<p>Yet the self-doubt \u2014 combined with the self-described \u201cburning ambition\u201d that helped Sturgeon transform herself from bookish working-class teenager into polished political performer \u2014 also appears to have ensured that power was always more burden than pleasure.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-pullquote o3-editorial-typography-pullquote n-content-pullquote--no-image\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<p>It is an often moving account of the challenges women face in a male-dominated political culture<\/p>\n<footer class=\"o3-editorial-typography-pullquote__author\"\/><\/blockquote>\n<p>This book is a lively though not revelatory account of how the independence issue came to dominate politics in Scotland, where about half of voters now support ending the union. It is also an often moving account of the challenges women face in a male-dominated political culture.<\/p>\n<p>Sturgeon\u2019s willingness to work ferociously hard to master complex briefs was central to her success and helped her provide reassuring leadership during the Covid pandemic \u2014 an achievement often contrasted with that of then UK prime minister Boris Johnson. Sturgeon is surely correct when she argues that a female leader would never get away with Johnson\u2019s chaotic approach to politics. \u201cThe lack of detail, stuttering incoherence and dishevelled appearance would herald any woman\u2019s downfall,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n<p>At her peak, Sturgeon had a remarkable ability to connect with people outside politics. But Scotland\u2019s most popular politician was also one of its most polarising and this is at heart a story of political failure.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--inline\" style=\"width:200px;max-width:100%\" data-component=\"image-set\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3Aa5be0c02-70d5-4a71-86cd-dae1a77cf7cd?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=200&amp;dpr=1 1x\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fa5be0c02-70d5-4a71-86cd-dae1a77cf7cd.jpg?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=1\" alt=\"\" data-image-type=\"image\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/picture><\/figure>\n<p>Sturgeon\u2019s bitter rift with her predecessor as SNP leader, Alex Salmond, sparked in 2018 by two civil servants\u2019 harassment complaints against him that dated to his time as first minister, shattered the unity of the independence movement.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frankly, <\/em>which despite the author\u2019s deep love of literature is written in a lucid rather than literary style, gives only a brief account of a feud that nearly toppled Sturgeon \u2014 although she takes pains to unpick claims by Salmond, who died last year, that she was part of a broad conspiracy against him. She also points out that while her mentor was later acquitted of sexual misconduct, his defence accepted he had at times acted \u201cinappropriately\u201d. Salmond himself said he had two drink-fuelled sexual encounters with two much more junior colleagues at his official residence, but that they were consensual.<\/p>\n<p>There were plenty of other setbacks during Sturgeon\u2019s time in office, including the failure to narrow the education attainment gap between better and worse-off pupils \u2014 a goal Sturgeon once called her \u201cdefining mission\u201d. <em>Frankly <\/em>does not delve into the SNP\u2019s use, under her watch, of donations raised to fight a second referendum for other party expenses \u2014 an issue that sparked complaints to the police that led to her arrest and that of her husband and party chief executive Peter Murrell. Sturgeon, who announced in January that the couple would divorce, was in March cleared by police investigating SNP finances. Murrell was charged in April 2024 in connection with the alleged embezzlement of party funds.<\/p>\n<aside aria-labelledby=\"aside-label\" class=\"n-content-recommended--single-story n-content-recommended--inset\" data-component=\"recommended\">\n<p class=\"n-content-recommended__title o3-type-body-highlight\">Recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser o-teaser--article o-teaser--small o-teaser--stacked o-teaser--has-image js-teaser\" data-id=\"2f91806f-40e2-4c9f-bc38-6a3aeff512f4\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-container js-teaser-image-container\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-placeholder\" style=\"aspect-ratio:3072\/1728\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-teaser__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2F__origami%2Fservice%2Fimage%2Fv2%2Fimages%2Fraw%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%252Fproduction%252Fd405529a-d9de-46bd-ac4a-9f54e3984352.jpg%3Fsource%3Dnext-article%26fit%3Dscale-down%26quality%3Dhighest%26width%3D700%26dpr%3D1?source=next&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;dpr=2&amp;width=240\" alt=\"A woman with short blonde hair in a pale shirt with black collar sits in a restaurant with pale walls that sport antlers and candles\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Sturgeon does usefully lay out why she could not find a way past the refusal of UK prime ministers to approve a second independence referendum. On transgender rights, she still believes she was right to push to make changes of legal gender easier, but admits wishing she had \u201chit the pause button\u201d in 2022 as it became one of the most polarising issues in Scottish politics.<\/p>\n<p>For aspiring politicians, <em>Frankly<\/em> is also a cautionary tale on the importance of a life outside politics. Sturgeon\u2019s devotion to her craft and lack of a life beyond family, friends and her beloved books took a psychological toll. Explaining her decision to step down as first minister in 2023, she writes that she had been \u201cNicola the politician\u201d virtually all her adult life, adding: \u201cI was starting to worry that I didn\u2019t really know who Nicola the person was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Frankly<\/strong> by Nicola Sturgeon <em>Macmillan \u00a328, 480 pages<\/em> <\/p>\n<p><em>Mure Dickie is the FT\u2019s former Scotland correspondent<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Join our online book group on Facebook at <\/em><em>FT Books Caf\u00e9<\/em><em> and follow FT Weekend on <\/em><em>Instagram<\/em><em>, <\/em><em>Bluesky<\/em><em> and <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ftweekend\" data-trackable=\"link\"><em>X<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>#Frankly #Nicola #Sturgeons #memoir #Scottish #politics #personal #life<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Addressing her Scottish National party just before she became her nation\u2019s first female first minister in 2014, Nicola Sturgeon had the almost \u201cout-of-body\u201d sensation that her younger self was nearby.\u00a0 \u201cThe shy, dour, always self-doubting, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[745,751,748,746,750,18,749,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-frankly","9":"tag-life","10":"tag-memoir","11":"tag-nicola","12":"tag-personal","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-scottish","15":"tag-sturgeons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}