“In my head and my heart, I know that time is now.”
It came as something of a surprise when Nicola Sturgeon announced her intention to resign as leader of the SNP and first minister of Scotland last week.
She became the first woman first minister of Scotland back in 2014, has secured election successes at every poll and continued to push for Scottish independence at every step – as well as taking a fiercely anti-Brexit stance throughout.
Media and communications expert – and CEO of digital marketing agency, Go Up – Edward Coram-James takes us through what can be learnt from Nicola Sturgeon’s crisis management techniques throughout her eight years as first minister of Scotland.
“When Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scotland’s first minister after more than eight years in the role, she admitted there would be ‘no shortage of judgements’ over her legacy. Having been in parliament since the age of 29 and Scotland’s leader since 2014, Sturgeon is both the first female, and longest serving, first minister.
The leader of the Scottish National Party told a news conference that it is right “for me, for my party and the country”.
From her time as leader, she will be remembered as a formidable political operator and an extremely effective communicator during her time in office. She’s raised the profile of Scotland as a political entity in Westminster and in Europe as a whole. More than any of her predecessors, she has been a visible, stateswoman-like presence.
Hot shot of Scottish politics
Sturgeon was undoubtedly the ‘hot shot’ of Scottish politics and her presentation and debating skills were used to good effect in the parliamentary chamber. Sturgeon was able to argue her way out of circumstances which were pretty damning of her administration, such as the attainment gap in education and NHS waiting times.
Sturgeon’s height in popularity and strong leadership skills also came to the forefront as we struggled through Covid. Her authority and communication skills were put on full display as, despite the number of cases and death rates of Covid being almost identical in Scotland to those in the rest of the UK, along with the disastrous results of the care homes policy, Sturgeon achieved record favourability ratings which overshadowed those of many politicians at the time. The first minister was widely praised for the calmness and consistency of her public messaging, in contrast with the behaviour of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Additionally, Sturgeon has dedicated her life to the issues that are close to her heart. She is a fierce advocate for the causes that she believes in, obviously with number one issue being independence for Scotland. However, we have also seen this ferocity in recent weeks with the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. It was very clear to see she defended both policies as she believed it was the right thing to do, regardless of the consequences to her popularity and political career.
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Importance of integrity
Moreover, Sturgeon had integrity and never seemed to steer away from her values, even when doing so would have been convenient. Integrity is the most important political currency and also the most important from the perspective of reputation management point. Retaining integrity means that, while people can attack you on policy they can never attach your character. The inability of her opponents to attack her character or integrity were the primary drivers of her personal popularity and thus her electoral success.
Within the political realm, we have witnessed MP’s who are obviously built to lead such as Tony Blair and David Cameron. On the other hand, we have witnessed those for whom it makes an awkward fit, it could be argued that Gordon Brown and Theresa May fall into this category.
Sturgeon has been both, in her first years as a politician she cut an introverted and irritable figure, however in time blossomed into a confident and fundamental frontwoman. This was particularly apparent during the 2014 independence referendum, when she held regular rallies for thousands of “Yes” voters, who were quite clearly in her clutches.
The people’s politician
Furthermore, Sturgeon comes across as a relatively ordinary Scot, which I believe has been beneficial to her. She has a typical Glaswegian sense of humour and can be very comical; ultimately she looks and sounds like the people who elect her. There is no class divider between the leader and the led, the way there is throughout the UK.
She spends her spare time reading books and regularly tweets about her favourite novels. The unique thing about Sturgeon is she is able to show her humanity and normalcy, that is not always prevalent in her Westminster equivalents.
On the other hand, for at least half the Scottish population she is also extremely aggravating. During her time as leader, there have been questions raised about opportunities lost and several arguments avoided. One such fight is surrounding the education system, and an unwillingness to bring about reforms which might upset the teaching unions even if they were embraced by parents and pupils.
Additionally, Sturgeon also has a poor association with businesses, which feel unvalued and ill-served. It can be argued that Sturgeon is primarily driven by a belief in the importance of the state and social justice, whilst lacking compassion for entrepreneurs.
Ultimately, Sturgeon’s no-nonsense, direct approach is a reason why she remains one of the most applauded politicians in the UK and will be remembered as one of the most impressive politicians of her generation, delivering a string of landslide election victories for the SNP, turning the party into an electoral juggernaut and brought an admired competence to her office.
She has been able to command a level of positive support that few others – especially the several Conservative Prime Ministers who have come and gone during her leadership could match. Under Sturgeon’s leadership, the SNP has dominated parliamentary elections in Scotland, whether for Holyrood or Westminster.
