Nicola Sturgeon Was the Tories’ Best Foil. Now She’s Gone.
The surprise resignation of Scotland’s First Minister raises questions about the future of the SNP as well as Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party.
Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon.
Photographer: JANE BARLOW/AFPIn a surprise resignation that had echoes of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s withdrawal from public life last month, Nicola Sturgeon announced on Wednesday that after eight years of leading the Scottish National Party, she has had enough.
Such has been her role in Scottish and British politics that her departure has the potential to shift the political landscape both in Scotland and the UK generally. The beneficiary of her departure may be the union that Conservatives have fought to preserve — but it probably won’t be the current government in Westminster that has been Sturgeon’s scapegoat and bete noire.