Sturgeon: I’ve seen off three Conservative PMs and I’ll see off a fourth
Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to see off the next Prime Minister, despite recent speculation about her own future in politics.
The first minister has already outlasted three British prime ministers since coming to power in 2014, and has told SNP MPs and MSPs that she intends to see off the fourth and possibly even a fifth.
Over the past eight years, Britain has been led by David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Johnson’s successor will be announced tomorrow, and the new prime minister will have until January 2025 to call a general election. However, Conservative strategists have suggested that an election could be held as early as October 2023.
At an “away day” of SNP MPs and MSPs in Edinburgh on Friday, Sturgeon said that she planned to outlast Liz Truss, the firm favourite, or Rishi Sunak.
One person at the meeting said: “Nicola was very clear – she has already seen the back of three Tory PMs, and she doesn’t expect Truss or Sunak to be the last. She told the group that she intends to see off whoever is announced as Tory leader this week.”
Sturgeon is Scotland’s longest-serving first minister and has been an MSP for 23 years.
However, some commentators have suggested her decision to fight the next general election as a “de facto” independence referendum – after spending years rejecting the idea – is part of an exit strategy. Last month she fuelled speculation about her future when she admitted she might not lead the SNP into the next Holyrood election – scheduled to take place in 2026 – and that she would make a judgment “nearer the time”.
Sturgeon said earlier this year she would resign if Scotland voted
No in a second independence referendum, which she wants to hold by the end of 2023.
During the Tory leadership campaign, frontrunner Truss called Sturgeon an “attentionseeker” who ought to be ignored but according to the latest YouGov poll on Westminster voting intentions, the Conservatives would lose the next general election, with the party on 31% of the vote to Labour’s 39%.