We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
FORMER SCOTTISH FIRST minister Nicola Sturgeon was yesterday arrested in connection with an ongoing probe into the SNP’s finances.
She was questioned for around seven hours before she was released without charge.
She is the third, high-profile SNP politician to be arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in the party’s finances after complaints were raised almost two years ago.
Sturgeon has made history as the first woman to become Scottish first minister, and was also the longest-serving incumbent in that post – dealing with no fewer than five different Conservative prime ministers in her time in the job.
So, who has Sturgeon’s career lead up to the point of her being arrested? What’s going on with the SNP finances? Let’s take a look.
Nicola Sturgeon joined the SNP at the age of 16.
She secured her first role as Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow in 1999 and remained in that position until 2007.
She then represented Glasgow Govan as an MSP between 2007 and 2011 before becoming an MSP for Glasgow Southside.
When the SNP narrowly won the 2007 Holyrood election, Alex Salmond became first minister with Sturgeon, who was depute leader of the party, becoming the deputy first minister.
She became first minister in November 2014 after Salmond stood down in the aftermath of the independence referendum that year – which saw Scots vote by 55% to 45% to stay part of the UK.
Such was her popularity that just after taking over as SNP leader she addressed a sell-out crowd at Glasgow’s Hydro – an achievement usually reserved for pop and rock stars.
Membership soared, so that at one point under her leadership the party was the second largest in the UK, and in the 2015 general election the party enjoyed record-breaking success, winning all but three of the 59 seats up for grabs north of the border.
Sturgeon used her time as first minister to champion causes such as women’s equality, the plight of youngsters in care, and climate change, declaring back in 2019 that the latter issue was an “emergency” the world’s political leaders needed to tackle.
Her time in the top job saw Glasgow host the Cop26 UN summit, insisting that the agreement reached there represented “progress” in tackling the issue.
That summit took place in November 2021, having been delayed by a year by Covid, which saw Sturgeon widely praised for her approach, with the then first minister holding daily briefings to update Scots throughout much of the pandemic.
While she led the SNP to electoral success – the party won every election in Scotland during her spell in charge – critics questioned her record.
She famously said people should judge her on her record on closing the attainment gap in Scotland’s schools, with her opponents insisting she failed to make enough progress on this.
The controversial issue of gender recognition reform, which was championed by Sturgeon, divided her party and attracted a storm of criticism from women’s rights campaigners.
Meanwhile, sexual harassment allegations brought against Salmond saw her relationship with the man who had been her political ally and mentor crumble.
And while Salmond was cleared of all the criminal charges brought against him, a Holyrood committee was set up to probe the Scottish Government’s handling of the allegations after the Court of Session ruled that this had been unlawful – with Sturgeon grilled by the committee for the best part of a day.
An independent review later cleared the then first minister of breaching the ministerial code but the cross-party committee found by majority that she had misled the parliament.
Her tenure as first minister brought Scotland no closer to independence, with the UK Supreme Court ruling in November 2022 that the Scottish Parliament did not have the powers to hold a second referendum without the consent of Westminster.
On 15 February, Nicola Sturgeon shocked many when she announced she was stepping down as first minister and as leader of the SNP in a hastily arranged press conference.
She denied that this was in response to “short-term pressures”, and instead said that the time is “right for me, for my party and my country”.
“In my head and in my heart, I know that time is now,” said Sturgeon.
Just over a month later and amid the leadership contest to replace Sturgeon, on 18 March, her husband Peter Murrell announced his resignation as the SNP’s chief executive with immediate effect.
It came during a row over the party’s membership numbers, which also led to media chief Murray Foote stepping down.
Membership numbers had dropped by about 30,000 in the last year, something the party previously denied.
Foote said that after speaking to the party’s HQ, he had issued responses to the media which had “serious issues” and he later decided there was a “serious impediment” to his role.
Now, let’s rewind for a moment.
In May 2021, Douglas Chapman resigned from his role as the SNP’s treasurer, saying he had not been given enough information to do his job.
Senior figures in the party, including Sturgeon, later disputed his assessment.
In July of the same year, Police Scotland confirmed they were investigating after seven complaints were made around donations to the SNP.
The SNP said that “all sums raised for independence campaigning will be spent on independence campaigning”.
Last December, it then emerged that Murrell had loaned the SNP £100,000 in June 2021, but the party said this was to help with a “cash flow” issue after the election that year.
Sturgeon said at the time: “The resources that he lent the party were resources that belonged to him.”
On 5 April, Murrell was arrested in connection with a long-running Police Scotland investigation into the spending of about £600,000 (€686,000) which was earmarked for Scottish independence campaigning.
There was a large police presence around his home in Glasgow as well as the SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
He was released without charge, pending further investigation, the same day.
Following her resignation in February, Sturgeon said she did not expect to be interviewed in relation to this financial investigation.
In a statement on the day of Murrell’s arrest, a spokesperson for Sturgeon said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on a live police investigation.
“Nicola Sturgeon had no prior knowledge of Police Scotland’s action or intentions.
“Ms Sturgeon will fully co-operate with Police Scotland if required, however at this time no such request has been made.”
On 18 April, party treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested and interviewed by police. He was also released without charge.
Stuart McDonald MP was appointed as the SNP’s new treasurer on April 22 after Beattie stood down with “immediate effect” following his arrest.
Yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon was arrested as part of a police investigation into the SNP’s finances.
She was questioned for around seven hours on Sunday before she was released without charge at about 5.25pm.
After being released from custody pending further investigation on Sunday, the former SNP leader tweeted her “shock” and “distress” at the situation.
She said: “To find myself in the situation I did today when I am certain I have committed no offence is both a shock and deeply distressing.
“I know that this ongoing investigation is difficult for people, and I am grateful that so many continue to show faith in me and appreciate that I would never do anything to harm either the SNP or the country.”
STATEMENT pic.twitter.com/MlpWJGzwi0
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 11, 2023
Sturgeon went on to say that she was “innocent of any wrongdoing,” adding: “Obviously, given the nature of this process, I cannot go into detail.
“However, I do wish to say this, and to do so in the strongest possible terms. Innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.”
Sturgeon thanked her family and friends for giving her “much-needed strength” at this time and said she would take a “day or two” to process the latest development.
The statement finished: “To the many people who have sent messages of support over these past difficult weeks – including since today’s news broke – thank you for your kindness.
“Thank you also to my close circle of family and friends who are giving me much-needed strength at this time.
“Finally, while I will take a day or two to process this latest development, I intend to be back in Parliament soon where I will continue to represent my Glasgow Southside constituents to the very best of my ability.”
Includes reporting by Press Association
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
Non-TCF/GVL Vendors
have your say