NICOLA Sturgeon has been paid the first £75,000 of four instalments for her memoirs.
The former first minister declared the payment from publisher Pan Macmillan on her Scottish Parliament register of interests.
Sturgeon was paid the first instalment in August, the same month she announced she was writing a “deeply personal and revealing” memoir, revealed after a bidding war between nine publishers.
The book is due to be published in 2025 after Pan MacMillan won the rights in the “hotly contested” auction. Sturgeon will be paid a £300,000 advance for the non-fiction book.
It comes after the 53-year-old set up an “artistic creation” firm with Companies House.
Sturgeon registered the advance payment with Holyrood authorities on September 10.
Her register now reads: “On 17 August 2023, I received £75,000 representing the first of four instalments of a book advance from Pan Macmillan (a publishing firm of Cromwell Place, Hampshire International Business Park, Lime Tree Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG24 8YJ).
“I estimate that work on the book will account for around 10-15 hours per week.”
It is the only entry listed under remuneration and related undertaking.
Sturgeon also registered her role as director of Nicola Sturgeon Limited, of which she holds a £1 share.
“The share represents 100% of the issued share capital,” the register states.
“The company does not yet have any income, but future book and related earnings will be made to it.”
A spokesperson for Sturgeon said last month that the creation of the company was an “appropriate administrative step”.
Her predecessor Alex Salmond (below) also set up his own company in 2015.
Sturgeon said she had always had an “ambition to write” when she announced the project in August.
Opposition politicians were quick to criticise the payment.
Craig Hoy, Scottish Tory chairman, said: “SNP MPs and MSPs will be spitting feathers that Nicola Sturgeon is already raking in huge sums for her memoirs while they are left to deal with the chaos, division and scandal she’s left behind.”
A spokeswoman for Sturgeon said: “As she has previously said, Nicola will register all payments in line with Parliament rules as they are received.”
