Staying at the top

Sally Underwood

Political Animal

IT’S often been said that political careers almost never end well. They do after all generally finish with someone losing an election (and that’s when they don’t end in a call girl scandal/expenses probe/ tabloid expose).

And the reason for that is perhaps one of the most human of all; hope. Which of us, after all, ever quits while we’re ahead?

But ­ like her or loathe her ­ that’s what Nicola Sturgeon appears to have done.

Yes, there are whispers that her abrupt resignation as Scotland’s first Minister had more to do with avoiding a campaign funds investigation than simply a change of career. But let’s assume ­ both for legal reasons as well as for the sake of not being cynical ­ that she genuinely walked away while broadly still at the top of her career.

Let’s also assume that the exact reasons she gave for resigning were sincere ­ that the ‘brutal’ (her words) world of politics genuinely does take its toll.