Was Britain’s Most Effective Politician Undone By Transphobia?
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And what will this mean for Scottish independence?
Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as the leader of the Scottish National Party.
In a move which shocked millions across the country, Ms. Sturgeon announced that she would be standing down as the first minister of Scotland.
Her enemies on all sides of the political divide received the news of her impending departure with great joy, not least because of the degree to which she shaped the political agenda in the United Kingdom prior to the 2016 referendum and its extraordinary aftermath.
Before she stepped into the breach, the Scottish National Party, was nothing more than a fringe movement and one that seemed wholly incapable of challenging the status quo in Westminster and in Scotland.
Her former mentor — Alex Salmond —began the process of moving the SNP to the center of British politics, first by achieving a majority in the Scottish parliament and secondly by announcing a referendum on Scottish independence.
Salmond stepped aside on losing the referendum vote in 2014, thus paving the way for Ms. Sturgeon, to usher in a new era in British politics.
2015 saw record numbers of SNP politicians winning seats in the house of parliament in Westminster, with veteran politicians like Gordon Brown, Charles Kennedy, Danny Alexander losing their seats.
Unlike Jeremy Corbyn, who fell short of winning a majority in the house of commons to govern as Prime Minister and Boris Johnson, who turned out to be one of the very worst Premiers in recent memory, Nicola Sturgeon was clear, concise and consistent in getting her message out to the broader public.
And this became apparent during the pandemic.
Ms. Sturgeon’s brilliant communication and leadership skills stood in stark contrast to the bumbling Johnson, whose laissez-faire approach to the once-in-a-lifetime crisis led to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of British people.
And when the effects of Brexit began to bite deeply, her very presence on the political stage made the extreme folly of the right wing press and the Conservative party all too apparent and they hated her…
