Hamish Gobson’s diary: the view from across the Uisge
16 February 2023
I DO NOT want to say too much in public, but now that the great drama has ended I can hardly conceal the fact I have been in Nicola Sturgeon’s confidence for a long time, if only at a strategic level.
She hinted as much at her tear-free press conference yesterday morning. What she did not say was that last year she asked me on what basis I thought she should resign when that great foreign job offer comes in.
I will not reveal the secrets of the confessional, but suffice it to say the First Minister seemed to misread my email. She was so affected by Jacinda Ardern’s sudden resignation that, up till quite recently, she wanted to stress that, unlike the stringy New Zealander, she “had enough in the tank.”
What I had in fact advised her to say was: “I have enough in the bank.”
Since publication of her tax returns, this has been obvious to the whole country, but it would have been headline news at the time I suggested she put that spin on this epochal event. She stole my line, which is why I have been prepared to reveal something of our close co-operation over the years.
But, objectively speaking, Sturgeon’s decision is rational. She will not have to make a spectacle of herself by talking to admiring foreigners in the expectation of tips and gratuities. This would be in contrast to Boris Johnson: he clearly did not have enough in the bank when he resigned, which is why he has been so busy trying to rake in a pension pot ever since.
In the circumstances, my advice about Kenya still stands (see my previous diary “Be prepared”)
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Hamish Gobson lives on the isle of Great Todday (Todaidh Mór) and features in Hating Tories: How Nicola Sturgeon Got into Government (1970-2007) – A Citizen’s Biography of a Driven Woman in a Drifting Parliament (Ian Mitchell, 2023) – available on Amazon.co.uk and also reviewed here by Tom Gallagher.
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