NICOLA Sturgeon is not first minister anymore. She’s not even in government.
While that might seem obvious, not everyone in the Scottish Parliament has got the message.
On Wednesday, the former SNP leader spoke in Holyrood for the first time since her resignation – but more than one of her fellow MSPs appeared to have missed that pretty major change in Scottish politics altogether.
The first slip up came from the Tories’ Roz McCall.
The Conservative MSP began by reading a quote from the Promise Oversight Board, which said that achieving the 2021-2024 plan for children and young people was not "realistic" any longer.
McCall asked: “Does the minister agree with the oversight board’s assessment?”
Sturgeon, who is not a “minister” any longer, answered that she believed the board were correct. She ignored that McCall had put her back into government.
Then, it was the deputy presiding officer’s turn.
Annabelle Ewing had attempted to ask Sturgeon to cut her speech a little short. She had taken two interventions, so was running a bit long.
Ewing interrupted: “First Minister, you will need to …”
The error led to laughter in the chamber and embarrassment for the unfortunate Ewing.
“Sorry, Nicola Sturgeon you will need to conclude,” the deputy presiding officer said.
Journalist Andrew Learmonth quipped on social media: “Feel sorry for DPO Annabelle Ewing there.
“You know she'll have had a big post-it on her notes saying, 'don't call Nicola Sturgeon first minister’.”
After being first minister for near enough nine years, it’s perhaps hardly surprising that Sturgeon’s new position is taking some politicians some getting used to.
She, for one, seems to be enjoying it.
The former SNP leader used her first speech in Holyrood since resigning to say that some things look “clearer” from the backbenches than the frontlines of politics – and issued a warning over polarisation.
Saying she accepted she had played a role, Sturgeon cautioned: “It is up to us what dynamic that disagreement creates. Acrimony and stalemate? Or creative tension.”
