The Real Reasons Nicola Sturgeon Resigned

The manner of the First Minister's resignation may have set her apart from her peers, but all may not be exactly as it seems

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's thoughtful and self-reflective resignation speech today stood in stark contrast to what were the quite spectacularly thoughtless and unreflective resignation speeches made last year by both Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.

As David Allen Green at

the law and lore blog

has noted, it has become rare to hear a senior UK politician accept that they have become a hindrance to their own cause, let alone to stand down without seeking to lodge most of the blame on others for their downfall.

Whatever your thoughts about Sturgeon and her politics, it is clear that she has been one of the most politically successful politicians of the modern era and her speech today made it quite obvious why.

Yet for all that the manner of Sturgeon's resignation stood her apart from her peers, it was in other ways much less surprising than it may at first appear.