I grieved for Salmond four or five years ago, says Sturgeon
The pair once formed one of the most successful political partnerships in UK history.
Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she grieved for Alex Salmond four or five years before his death following the breakdown of their relationship.
The pair formed one of the most successful political partnerships in UK history, winning every election campaign led by one or both of them north of the border since 2007.
But after allegations of harassment were made against Mr Salmond by two women during his time as first minister, the relationship between the two began to deteriorate before severing completely.
Mr Salmond was cleared of a number of charges of sexual misconduct including attempted rape following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2020.
He went on to become leader of the Alba Party, which became a frequent critic of his former party and former protegee.
Mr Salmond died suddenly of a heart attack in October in North Macedonia at the age of 69.
Asked if his death changed anything for her, Ms Sturgeon told the Financial Times: “No… I came to the conclusion that I probably grieved for Alex four years, five years ago.”
The former SNP leader – who stood down abruptly in 2023 – added she knew some of the women who had complained against Mr Salmond.
“I’ve seen the impact not just of what they believe happened to them initially, but also the impact of the way he then behaved. It’s been pretty hard,” she said.
The Glasgow Southside MSP – who has not yet declared her intention for the 2026 Holyrood election – did not attend a public memorial service for Mr Salmond at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh in November, instead going to the funeral of her friend, the comedian Janey Godley, in Glasgow on the same day.
Ms Sturgeon said she had accepted “I’d probably never speak to him again”, adding: “Partly because I didn’t think he would want to speak to me, but also because, had he turned up on my doorstep one day, unless he had been prepared to acknowledge some of the things that he had done, I wouldn’t have wanted to do that.”
She went on to say she had been forced to step in “many times” when he had been “really rough on people”.
Her comments come after the SNP suffered a staggering general election defeat last year, falling from 48 MPs in 2019 to just nine.
Ms Sturgeon told the newspaper she accepted “a fair chunk of responsibility” for the loss, which came at the end of a tumultuous 18 months for the party.
But she added: “The more time that passes, I think it’s harder to keep blaming me for things… There’s some irony: the SNP didn’t lose an election when I was leader, but somehow the first one that they lost when I wasn’t leader was all my fault.”
