Nicola Sturgeon: A Citizen’s Biography of a Driven Woman in a Drifting Parliament
Book review
Argyll and Bute historian Ian Mitchell's biography of Nicola Sturgeon is drawn from the official report of the proceedings of the Holyrood chamber – Scotland's version of Hansard.
Nicola Sturgeon: A Citizen's Biography of a Driven Woman in a Drifting Parliament, published on Amazon in January, a second biography of the first minister, is the first volume in a planned trilogy.
It covers the years of ascent from Sturgeon's birth in Prestwick in July 1970 to 2007.
Mitchell, from Campbeltown, has never met his subject as states, “we come from completely different social, cultural, political, educational and professional backgrounds,” which, as he is an Old Etonian, seems likely.
The book also introduces Mitchell's alter ego, fictional Hebridean blogger Hamish Gobson, who writes from Great Todday, an island made famous by Compton Mackenzie in Whisky Galore.
Mitchell has given Gobson a voice because so many people who made comments, about Sturgeon “were reluctant to draw attention to themselves by speaking on the record”.
It is a rollicking read, for about the first 70 pages, despite Mitchell's claim that it is a parliamentary biography with little “domestic scandal”.
In Sturgeon's early life she cut the hair off her sister's Barbie doll, a story she still denies, and idolised Cilla Black.
Later, while Salmond, as an MP, was swearing allegiance to HM the Queen, Sturgeon, half a generation behind and a “New Romantic”, was ice dancing in Ayr to Duran Duran music.
Mitchell fluidly moves decades and asks whether her current designer clothes, servants and Edinburgh New Town address take Sturgeon away from being an authentic Scot.
This chatty style is interspersed with selected excerpts from the official record; such as an exchange from just before the 2007 Scottish election fought by the Scottish National Party on the promise of an independence referendum.
As part of the official record the exchange is indented and states:
Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): “If the SNP wins the election, we will have a referendum in 2010. What happens if the people of Scotland say no?”
Nicola Sturgeon: “The difference between Karen Gillon and me is that I want to give the Scottish people the right to choose and she wants to deny them that right. If she wants to put her point to the test, she should back the right of the Scottish people to a referendum. Let me make this promise: when the time comes, my party will win the argument for independence by building the confidence of the Scottish people, not by trying to scare them into submission like Labour.”
Alan Page, emeritus professor of public law, University of Dundee, gives the clearest reason to read the book, saying: “While some of the language and ideas may be new and unfamiliar, Ian Mitchell's biography deserves reading by all those who care about Scotland's political and constitutional future.”
The book is available to buy on Amazon or locally from The Old Bookshelf in Campbeltown's Cross Street.