NICOLA Sturgeon has hit back at Russell Findlay as he criticised SNP-led Scottish governments for their handling of the media.
Speaking to the Holyrood magazine, the Scottish Tory leader claimed there was a “hostility towards journalism” from former first ministers – including both Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond.
Findlay – who worked as a journalist for decades – said: “I think from Alex Salmond through to Nicola Sturgeon and continuing, there has been this fairly unpleasant hostility towards journalism and journalists and any scrutiny.
“I know that journalism is not a popularity contest, and I’ve come across some bad faith media stuff in the short time I’ve been doing this, but I know better than to complain about it.
“I think that they [Salmond and Sturgeon] were particularly hostile.”
Findlay continued to specifically hit out at Sturgeon’s media briefings at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I mean, even taking some of Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid briefings, which were little more than political grandstanding half the time and seeking to build her brand while differentiating from the rest of the UK for no discernible benefit to the people of Scotland,” he said.
He added it was “often laced with a kind of arch antagonism towards particular journalists that I found to be quite inappropriate and quite disturbing.”
“It’s about shutting journalists down, stopping scrutiny and that is fundamentally wrong.”
Responding, a spokesperson for Sturgeon said: “Throughout the pandemic, whilst the Tory politicians acted unlawfully by partying during lockdown, Nicola displayed competence and compassion as she spoke directly to the public every day to provide important information – a responsibility she took incredibly seriously.”
Next first minister
Elsewhere, Findlay also said he would be laughed at if he said he would become Scotland’s next first minister.
Findlay took the reins of the party in September, following a chaotic period at the end of Douglas Ross’s tenure.
In the early months of his leadership, the former journalist has sought to manage expectations ahead of the Holyrood election in 2026.
Speaking to Holyrood magazine, Findlay described the Scottish Conservatives as the “anti-establishment party”.
He added: “We’ve got 31 MSPs who I’m confident will want to put their shoulders to the wheel for 2026.
“I would love to grow that number, but the polling being what it is, for me to say, Jo Swinson-style, that I’m going to be first minister, you would just laugh at me.
“But who’s to say that Scotland couldn’t actually one day have a Conservative first minister or government, or some form of government that includes us?”
Former UK Liberal Democrat leader Swinson (above) insisted during the 2019 general election that she could be prime minister, a claim which dominated most of the discourse around her party’s campaign.
She went on to lose her seat to the SNP.
The Scottish Tories remain solidly in third in the polls and dropped one seat and 12.7% of the vote in Scotland in July’s general election, with a potential threat from Reform UK growing.
West Scotland MSP Findlay added that he felt sorry for former Scottish Tory leaders who had been forced to “spend a lot of time defending” the actions of their UK-wide counterparts in government at Westminster.
Since the beginning of 2010, other parties frequently used decisions made by the Tories south of the Border to attack those in Scotland.
But the same thing could befall Anas Sarwar, Findlay added, with the Scottish Labour leader already being attacked over the Winter Fuel Payment and decisions taken in the current UK Government’s Budget.
