Sturgeon is losing her ‘walk on water’ reputation – Sillars
‘No apparent successor’
NICOLA Sturgeon’s ‘walk on water’ reputation is disappearing, according to a former deputy leader of the SNP. Jim Sillars yesterday launched a blistering attack on the First Minister, insisting she is only hanging on to her job as there is ‘no apparent successor’ to take over.
And he said that her ‘lack of judgment’ on issues such as Brexit, a second independence referendum and the chaotic reshuffle last week have left her reputation badly damaged. Mr Sillars said: ‘Once lost, a reputation for competence and judgment is hard to recover.
‘Miss Sturgeon is fortunate that there is no apparent successor. I may seem a lone voice but the truth is I am writing in public what many say in private.’
Writing in The Times newspaper, he added: ‘Two things are fatal to a senior politician: becoming a figure of mockery or when there is a general belief in a lack of judgment built up when that deficiency is apparent on important issues.
‘Nicola Sturgeon is not subject to the first, but open to an accusation of the latter.
‘Her “walk on water” reputation began to disappear on the morning after the EU referendum in 2016 because of a monumental misjudgment of what the result meant.’
Mr Sillars’ latest intervention comes only days after Miss Sturgeon was forced to drop Gillian Martin as minister for colleges, universities and science – 24 hours after appointing her.
The move was prompted after ‘deeply offensive’ comments Mrs Martin had made about ethnic minorities in a blog post.
The disclosures led to a backlash against Miss Sturgeon’s reshuffle, with claims she had failed properly to vet candidates for Government roles.
The claims came after it emerged Miss Sturgeon appointed Mrs Martin despite being aware of comments she had made about transgender students in which she referred to them as ‘hairy-knuckled, lipstickwearing transitional transgender laydees’. Mr Sillars said that while Miss Sturgeon’s staff should have ascertained the full contents of Mrs Martin’s blog, which emerged in 2016, she was to blame for the mistake.
He added: ‘Final responsibility rests with the First Minister. A prudent one would have insisted upon a check, and a double check, on such a significant appointment.’
Scottish Tory chief whip Maurice Golden said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon had it too easy for too long and that’s why she’s struggling to deal with a series of setbacks.
‘If diehard Nationalists are unhappy about her abuse of the Brexit process and shambolic reshuffle, you can only imagine how voters more generally feel.
‘She’s complacent both as First Minister and an unchallenged SNP leader.
‘It’s no coincidence that the arrival of a strong Scottish Conservative opposition in May 2016 has resulted in this intensifying pressure on the SNP Government.’
Last night the SNP refused to comment on Mr Sillars’s intervention.