Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has denied that she overshadowed her successor and current Scottish National Party (SNP) leader, Humza Yousaf, by unexpectedly showing up on Monday at his first party conference as leader since he took over from her in March.
Ms Sturgeon, who was arrested earlier this year by police investigating the SNP’s finances, caused a stir when she arrived at the event in Aberdeen at lunchtime. Her appearance came a day after the party ditched her old strategy for getting a fresh independence referendum, plumping instead for a new compromise plan brokered by Mr Yousaf.
At about 1.30pm on Monday, Ms Sturgeon descended the stairs into the main foyer of The Event Centre Aberdeen to a rapturous reception from party members. When asked if she was upstaging Mr Yousaf, she said “not at all” and insisted he was doing a “fantastic job” as first minister.
“I don’t think there is any doubt from what I’ve seen about who is in charge of this conference, and it is Humza Yousaf,” Ms Sturgeon said.
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When it was put to her that her police difficulties had been partially blamed by Mr Yousaf for a recent SNP byelection defeat, she reiterated that she was no longer party leader: “Humza is more than capable of speaking for himself.”
She promised her “full, unequivocal support” for the new independence strategy, which centres on a plan to ask the next UK government for a fresh referendum if the SNP wins a majority of Scotland’s 57 Westminster seats at the next election, having run on a promise to do so. The old, now-ditched plan that was originally championed by Ms Sturgeon when she was leader was to treat the votes in the Westminster election as a “de facto” referendum in place of a real breakaway vote.
“One of the reasons that I took the decision to step down was that I believed I had given my all on moving the country to independence, and that I had taken it as far as I could,” she said, noting that the new strategy agreed on Sunday had near “unanimous” support in the party.
Ms Sturgeon said she had not spoken again to police investigating SNP financial irregularities since her arrest in June. She has maintained he innocence and has not been charged.
Shortly after arriving at the conference, Ms Sturgeon moved into the main hall to hear an address from Keith Brown, deputy leader of the SNP. She waved to cheering party delegates from the front of the hall, before taking a seat in the front row. She appeared emotional when video clips of her past conference speeches were played to the room.
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“I forgot how intimidating it is to make a speech with Nicola Sturgeon just in front of you,” joked Mr Brown at the outset of his address.
Earlier, when news started to break of Ms Sturgeon’s imminent arrival at the conference, Mr Yousaf tried to laugh off suggestions that she was undermining him – the current SNP leader was seen as the “continuity candidate” from Ms Sturgeon’s regime during the leadership contest to replace her.
“I’m delighted [she is attending]. She is a member. She has every right to be here,” Mr Yousaf said.
