Why d’ya do it, Nicola? Folk have been chewing that over ever since it emerged the former First Minister was criticising her friend and successor John Swinney.

In a new foreword to her memoir, she says that the election campaign he fronted lacked “vision or big picture thinking”, was “detached from the big issues bearing down on people’s lives” and didn’t do enough to enthuse people about the benefits of independence. She also praises the Scottish Greens. Coming during a quiet week for politics, the fallout has continued while she tours auditoriums promoting her book.

There’s a general feeling in SNP ranks that she ought to put a sock in it. Swinney has never publicly criticised Sturgeon, even though he was brought in to fix the sliding poll ratings and crisis of infighting that began under her leadership. She herself was annoyed when her own predecessor, Alex Salmond, criticised her actions, so she must have known how her words would be received. So if this isn’t a clumsy attempt to be helpful, what’s she playing at?

She could be trying to protect her legacy, having taken her party further to the left, or she could be craving a feeling of relevance, or it might just be what it looks like, publicity-seeking for her book. Whatever the motivation, she’s behaving like Tony Blair, which won’t endear her to anyone.

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It’s the “what” rather than the “why” of her remarks that will frustrate SNP activists most,........

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