Like many, I initially responded to news that Nicola Sturgeon’s former husband was guilty of embezzling £400,000 from the SNP with the thought: ‘How could she not have known?’

Sturgeon herself mirrored that notion when she said this week: “I know there are questions, I understand that. I would probably be asking as well if I was looking in from the outside on somebody else ‘how can she not have known’.” 

This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

The former First Minister, though, has insisted she knew nothing about the crime.

However, as time passed following Peter Murrell’s court appearance, I became increasingly uncomfortable with this ‘how could she not have known’ mood which spread around Scotland. 

This issue is so politically fraught that it is worth spelling out my own hinterland. I did once consider Sturgeon among the very first rank of politicians. However, quite some time before she resigned I was no longer of that opinion. 

I considered her continual claims that ‘indy is coming’ to be highly manipulative of the electorate, and I was deeply discontent with her government. Her ScotWind deal remains the biggest policy failure in 21st century Scottish politics.

While I do support independence, it’s from a moderate and critical position, and I have been deeply unflattering as a commentator about the SNP. So I carry no torch for either Sturgeon or her party.

The Murrell-Sturgeon issue isn’t just politically fraught, however, it is also a deeply unpleasant matter to........

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