Why Nicola Sturgeon had to go

Nothing in life or politics lasts forever, not even Nicola Sturgeon’s legendary popularity. In a recent poll, 42 per cent of Scots said the First Minister should step down immediately. It seems she has taken the hint: this morning Sturgeon announced that she would be resigning after eight years as head of the Scottish government.

‘The nature and form of modern political discourse means there is a much greater intensity – dare I say it brutality – to life as a politician than in years gone by,’ she said in a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh.

As Sturgeon prepares to hand over to her successor, there is no doubt that the SNP still dominates Scottish politics. But every dog in the street, as they say here, knew that Sturgeon’s time was coming to an end.

Sturgeon’s policy of gender self-declaration is, of course, the proximate cause of the First Minister’s misfortune.