Nicola Sturgeon has hit back at claims by party president Mike Russell that the SNP is in a “mess”.
And the outgoing First Minister has also denied that the party lied to journalists about the party’s plummeting membership.
Sturgeon’s husband and party chief executive Peter Murrell resigned from his role on Saturday amid reports that he was facing a vote of no confidence from party members.
SNP head of media Murray Foote stood down a day earlier.
The party was finally forced to admit last week that it had lost 30,000 members over the last two years – despite rubbishing earlier reports of a slump.
Acting CEO and party president Mike Russell said the party was in a “tremendous mess” and that he had “no idea” why journalists had been misled over the membership numbers.
But Sturgeon denied these claims on ITV’s Loose Women yesterday saying: “Mike was referring to some of the issues around the leadership election. The SNP’s not in a mess. It’s going through... some growing pains. They are necessary but they’re difficult.”
Figures released by the party last week showed the party’s membership had dropped from 103,884 in 2021 to 72,186 in February this year.
Our sister paper the Sunday Mail had been told weeks earlier that there was no membership slump, with SNP spin doctor Foote calling the Sunday Mail’s story “drivel”.
It now appears that Foote had been given the wrong figures by SNP HQ to pass on to the press.
Sturgeon denied the SNP had intentionally misled the public and journalists over how many people had left the party.
She said: “My husband has been chief executive of the SNP for longer than I have been leader. He was going to step down... and has decided to take responsibility for that situation, I think rightly.
“But we were asked a specific [question]... we mishandled that situation. When asked a specific question, not ‘What’s the size of your membership?’ but ‘Have you lost 30,000 members because of X and Y?’ In that sense, we should have framed it in a bigger way. So these things are all an opportunity to learn and to reflect.”
Sturgeon also spoke yesterday on the increasingly bitter contest to succeed her as SNP leader. The First Minister hinted that leadership candidates Ash Regan, Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes should not change the party’s approach too much if they win the contest.
She said: “I’ve won, my party has won rather, eight elections in my eight years as leader. So we’re actually in quite a strong position.
“But I wouldn’t be standing down if I didn’t think this was the right time for some change, renewal, refresh. I think the trick for my party is to do that while not throwing the baby out with the bathwater and not losing the things that have made us so successful.”
Opposition MSPs responded to Sturgeon’s comments last night – with one describing her denial of the “mess” the party is in as “mind-boggling”.
Tory MSP Meghan Gallacher said: “It’s clear Nicola Sturgeon has already mentally checked out of Bute House and is focusing on the next phase of her life.
“But as she heads off into the sunset, the First Minister – along with her husband – leave a trail of destruction in their wake for the SNP and the country. How she can deny her party is in a mess is mind-boggling, given her departure has sparked a brutal civil war.
“The leadership contest has seen her record in government trashed by all of the feuding candidates, two of whom have questioned the integrity of the contest itself, while her chief executive spouse and the SNP’s media chief have both been forced to quit over lies told about membership figures.”
Sturgeon also said she had not been interviewed by the police as part of an investigation into the SNP’s finances in an interview with Sky News yesterday.
The probe was launched in 2021 after it was claimed £600,000 of SNP donations had been illegally diverted from a “ring-fenced” fund to fight an independence referendum.
When asked if she and her husband had been interviewed, Sturgeon said: “Look, no, but I’m not going to comment, I wouldn’t comment on any ongoing police investigation and I’m not going to comment on this one.”
She then denied that it was part of the reason that her husband resigned.
When asked if it was, she said: “No, it hasn’t, no.” She also ruled out becoming first minister again in the future.
She said: “There is not going to be a Nicola Sturgeon comeback.”
Sturgeon has been First Minister since 2014. She will chair her final cabinet meeting on Tuesday, and will face opposition leaders for the final time at First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood on Thursday.
She made her last ever public speech as first minister at the Royal Society of Arts in central London on Monday afternoon.
When asked after the speech if the leadership contest should be postponed or if she should continue as first minister for longer, Sturgeon replied: “God, no.”
She also suggested she was influenced by the resignation of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Ardern resigned in January saying she wanted to spend more time with her partner and daughter.
Sturgeon announced she was quitting less than four weeks later. She said: “In terms of parallels with people talking about Jacinda Ardern, [it’s] very different.
“But yes there’s some [similarities] with what she has said and what I have said. When she made her announcement, I hadn’t reached this decision. I don’t even think I was conscious of coming to this conclusion.
“But I vividly remember hearing her make that announcement that morning and feeling a sense of envy.
“And maybe that’s the moment in my subconscious [that I started thinking about resigning].”
Voting for the SNP leadership contest closes on Monday at noon.
The result is due to be announced soon after.
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