Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s former first minister and as soon as one among Britain’s most outstanding politicians, is now not being investigated over allegations of embezzlement on the Scottish Nationwide Get together, which she led till two years in the past.
The Scottish police, in an announcement, lifted a cloud that had been hanging over Ms. Sturgeon since her arrest and questioning in June 2023 plunged her occasion into disaster.
Her arrest was a part of an inquiry into monetary irregularities on the S.N.P., which campaigns for Scottish independence and which has dominated the nation’s politics for many of the previous twenty years.
The police investigation, code-named Operation Branchform, led to fees of embezzlement in opposition to Ms. Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, former chief government of the S.N.P. Mr. Murrell appeared in court docket in Edinburgh on these fees on Thursday however didn’t enter a plea.
In January the couple stated that they had separated and have been within the strategy of ending their marriage.
Police Scotland stated in a statement on Thursday that each Ms. Sturgeon and Colin Beattie, a former treasurer of the S.N.P. who was additionally arrested in 2023, “haven’t been charged and are now not below investigation.”
Consistent with commonplace British police protocol, neither Ms. Sturgeon nor Mr. Beattie have been talked about by identify within the assertion however have been known as a 54-year-old lady and a 73-year outdated man. However chatting with reporters exterior her dwelling close to Glasgow, Ms. Sturgeon stated she had been informed that, after an investigation of the proof, there could be no motion in opposition to her.
“In different phrases, I’m utterly within the clear,” she stated. “That’s the end result I had at all times anticipated.”
Ms. Sturgeon was the primary lady to guide her occasion and her nation, and was the longest-serving first minister in Scottish historical past till her shock resignation in 2023. On the time her fame was excessive, with Ms. Sturgeon famend for her formidable communications expertise, which proved significantly efficient in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Operation Branchform was launched in 2021 and was reported to have adopted complaints concerning the dealing with of donations price about 600,000 kilos, or $780,000, raised to marketing campaign for a second vote on Scottish independence. (A referendum on the difficulty took place in 2014, with Scots voting to remain inside the UK by 55 p.c to 45 p.c.)
After Mr. Murrell’s arrest, Scottish information media reported that the police had seized a luxurious motor dwelling that had been bought by the occasion and was parked exterior his mom’s home.
The drama rocked the S.N.P. because it was coming to phrases with Ms. Sturgeon’s sudden resignation. Her successor, Humza Yousaf, held the submit of first minister of Scotland for little more than a year earlier than being changed by John Swinney, a celebration veteran.
Within the British general election final 12 months, the S.N.P. gained 9 of the 57 seats in Scotland, a stark drop in contrast with the 48 of 59 seats it secured in 2019. Nonetheless the occasion’s opinion ballot rankings recovered when the Labour authorities, led by Keir Starmer, stumbled in its first months in energy.
Earlier this month, Ms. Sturgeon introduced that she wouldn’t run in 2026 within the subsequent elections for the Scottish Parliament.
Representing Glasgow Southside as a lawmaker was “an honor past phrases,” she wrote on Instagram earlier than including: “Nonetheless, I’ve identified in my coronary heart for some time that the time is true for me to embrace completely different alternatives in a brand new chapter of my life.”
