I WON’T take any lectures from (insert name) about (insert issue) was a regular riposte from Nicola Sturgeon to those holding her to account at the weekly session of First Minister’s Questions. Last week in her final speech to Parliament, MSPs were themselves subject to a lecture from Sturgeon herself.

For 10 years I served in the Scottish Parliament. I served during the excitement and at times despair, of the independence referendum, during a period of majority SNP government and at a time when a genuinely socialist UK Labour government was a real possibility. It also coincided with a period when the failure of the Scottish Parliament to address Scotland’s pressing needs was exposed. Nicola Sturgeon has been central to that failure.

During my time in Holyrood I saw Sturgeon up close. I debated with her, had meetings with her and clashed with her. She was a formidable political operator who as first minister ruled with an iron fist. She lived and breathed politics, with little evidence of interests outside the political bubble.

She hated being held to account in Parliament as much as she did by her internal party critics. She was savage in her attacks on political opponents, made zero effort to work with opposition parties who didn’t share her constitutional viewpoint and, as a serving MSP, appeared to have no political friends outside her own political tribe.

It was therefore with astonishment that I watched exerts from her final speech in Parliament after 27 years as an MSP.

Such a huge commitment should be recognised but this was a speech that cannot be allowed to pass without comment and we certainly cannot allow her rewrite history. Because the lack of self-awareness and level of hypocrisy on display was simply off the charts.

Her advice to MSPs and anyone else who was listening included a long list of gems such as “make friends in other parties.” Well, most MSPs do this and respect opponents across the political spectrum despite their differences. I may be wrong, but I am unaware that Sturgeon’s friendship circle included many people Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat MSPs during her time in Holyrood.

When one former Labour leader confided in her she went public with their private chat because she saw perceived political advantage in doing so. As for relations with her fellow nationalists in Alba — well, let’s not even go there.

She also said: “Opponents need not be enemies” — Nicola Sturgeon was the most tribal politician in Parliament. She could not see merit in anyone’s view except her own and contributed to an often poisonous atmosphere where opposing voices were ridiculed, their character questioned and their arguments shouted down. She saw every opponent as an enemy, no matter the merit of their argument or case. When I went to her to make the case for help and support for mesh-injured women she refused to meet us.

Then as pressure mounted only agreed to meet us because it was during an election campaign and she saw the opportunity to win votes. At the meeting she shed crocodile tears and said all the right things to the women but could not bring herself to even speak to Jackson Carlaw and I, who had worked cross-party with Alex Neil on this issue. She barely lifted a finger to help these brilliant women.  

On the biggest issue affecting Scotland’s people, poverty and inequality, she made little attempt to build a cross-party alliance and attacked those raising these issues as having “no interest” in the issue and only raising it for political reasons.

Further on in her speech she added: “No matter the loyalty to your own tribe, don’t forget to think for yourself.”

Sturgeon ruled her party absolutely and stamped on anyone who challenged her view. Any sign of dissent was eradicated very quickly, thinking for oneself was not an option in her SNP.

Parliamentarians from other parties who possessed an independent mind were mocked as rebels and used as a battering ram to undermine their parties’ respective leaders.

She then went on to say: “If everything is scandal nothing is” — scandals are things like the drugs deaths in Scotland, the treatment of mesh survivors, the appalling educational attainment gap, the housing crisis, the social care crisis, NHS waiting lists, the state of local government, the alleged fraud in her own party (which she denied) and, the biggest scandal of all — the discharge of Covid-positive patients into care homes which caused many, many deaths. All of these scandals were on her watch. She is accountable for these very real scandals.

She also said: “Even when trying to bring your opponent down in debate, elevate this institution” — Sturgeon was savage in her attacks on opponents, she was savage in her criticism of her mentor and predecessor, she hated being held to account and, when she was, she attacked the person questioning her.

When her government was defeated in votes she ignored the will of Parliament and ploughed on regardless because she could not accept she might be wrong — so much for “elevating this place.” When questioned internally by her own party critics she ended their careers and when the net closed in, even those closest to her were abandoned.  

She then added: “Don’t live life on social media” — this from someone obsessed with selfies and who got crass shots for social media taken when she went to the Auschwitz concentration camp is a bit rich indeed.

I respect Sturgeon’s ability as a communicator and a political operator, but we cannot allow her to rewrite history because those of us who were there will not allow it.

Neil Findlay is a former Labour MSP.